John Tavener has always been a puzzling composer to me. Though he made his name mainly under the guise of his adopted Eastern Orthodoxy (without understanding much of it, in my opinion), and put many of its more surface concepts into the spotlight without ever really probing the depths underneath, his failures proved as numerous as his successes. When he hit he seemed to hit big, with pieces like The Protecting Veil, Song for Athene, and others manifesting an undeniable talent. But many of his scores felt cookie-cut, and some are downright tedious to hear (sample the Fall and Resurrection DVD to see what I mean) and rely on musical techniques that might feel fraudulent to those looking for a demonstration of true creative art.
The works on this CD are outside his Christian period (he has opened himself up to Islam and other religions in the last few years) but still such maintain a fairly consistent outlook. The Ex Maria Virgine might be considered his Christmas Cantata, and at 40 minutes it certainly qualifies. There is more simple and direct melody in this than many works of years gone by, though the composer is sort of reinterpreting this Mary story in light of the Eternal Feminine, a Gnostic teaching that likens the participation of Mary in the Christ story to the idea of a feminine principle in human beings. In this particular composition we hear a number of familiar carol and liturgical texts taken from the western rather than eastern liturgical traditions, though some of the musical motives are definitely eastern in setting. The piece is sporadically inspired, somewhat diffuse in content, and rather a mixed bag that will still give Tavener fans a lot to be thankful for.
The remaining pieces are set on various independent texts, several of them quite alluring when Tavener sticks to the techniques he knows best (he often comes up with many lovely melodic gems that are repeated often with great success). The sound is fine, the performers a known quantity, and this can be counted as a moderate success, though I would not suggest it as a first introduction to the composer (try The Veil of the Temple for that).
— Steven Ritter
