The best recordings of works by John Tavener

Ikon of Light

The Sixteen/Harry Christophers
Coro 16015

A good introduction to Tavener’s finest choral writing, including The Lamb and the early seven-movement sequence that gives the disc its name.

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• Five of the best contemporary choral works

The Protecting Veil

Steven Isserlis (cello); London Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Erato 3-63293

A classic release of the hypnotically spaced-out score that still wins converts after 18 years. We named the London Symphony Orchestra one of the best orchestras in the world.

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• A guide to the music of Sir John Tavener

Ex Maria Virgine

Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/Timothy Brown
Naxos 8.572168

A recent carol sequence that does surprising things to familiar texts.

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• Six of the best 20th-century British choral works

Requiem

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Vasily Petrenko
EMI 235 1342

In his later, stylistically inclusive mode, the Requiem contains grandiloquence and a state of surrender.

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• Six of the best choral arrangements of spirituals

Read more of our reviews of the latest Tavener recordings

Find out more about Tavener and his works here

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