Our thoughts are with the family of Sir John Tavener, who died yesterday at his home with his family.
He was Britain’s foremost classical composer, renowned for his both profoundly religious and inspirational secular works.
Both John Lennon and Ringo Starr took an interest in John Tavener’s music. His first major composition, the iconoclastic and ground-breaking The Whale, was premiered at the Proms in 1969 and was recorded by Apple Records the following year, followed by the release of the extraordinary Celtic Requiem, a piece for orchestra and children’s choir, in 1971.
More stories about Tavener and the Beatles at the site I linked to above.
We liked this photo: which shows Tavener and his wife after he was awarded British honors in 2000. On this occasion Tavener was " knighted for Services to Music in the Millennium Honours list."
And here a picture of some sheet music of Tavener's:
This piece was composed sometime after 1977. Naxos has this to say:
John Tavener’s piano works are less well known than his large orchestral, vocal and choral works, yet at times seem to mark his stylistic and spiritual development on a more personal level. Tavener’s first piano work, Palin, foreshadows his search for a spirituality beyond the sophisticated, technical manipulation of musical material. The loss of his cats inspired Tavener to write Mandoodles, depicting short scenes from the life of his cat Mandu, and the bell-like In Memory of Two Cats.
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