John Tavener
The Protecting Veil, Svyati
Lionel Martin, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Corinna Niemeyer
(SWR music)

JOHN TAVENER’S The Protecting Veil, written for cello and string orchestra and completed in 1987, was in many ways his breakthrough seminal work.

Premiered at the BBC Proms in 1989 with cellist Steven Isserlis, the album was shortlisted for the 1992 Mercury Prize.

Tavener, having converted to the Christian-Orthodox church in 1977, offers this piece as a spiritual exploration of the life of the Virgin Mary.

Tracing the stages of her life, from her own birth through the Annunciation and the birth of Christ to the lamentation on the cross ascension.

The veil a symbol of separation between man and God. Lionel Martin’s version, a rising star of the cello, is bold and emotive. The recording benefits from advances in technology compared to the Isserlis.

Martin’s training is impressive. Since 2017 he has been a fellow of the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, as well as being a student at the Zurich Academy of Arts.

Together with Mutter, he has since appeared at the world’s leading concert halls. For the new album Martin joins forces with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Corinna Niemeyer.

Martin explains what he finds so fascinating about The Protecting Veil: “From the moment I discovered it, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind.

“When I play it as a soloist it puts me into an almost meditative state. For Tavener the cello represented the Mother of God spreading her protecting veil out over mankind.

“Right at the beginning of the score the instruction for playing says ‘transcendent, with awesome majesty.’ I have never come across such an instruction.”

Martin’s playing lives up to the power and majesty of those instructions.

The album opens up with the title movement from The Protecting Veil — an eight-minute drama of melancholy into joy, based on arching high cello refrains and microtonal leanings. 

Bursts of sublime melodic modern stabs bloom and open up towards the end, backed with the power of the string section, then back to subdued meditation.

The second movement, The Birth of the Mother God, further explores deep themes and moods. Sliding, shifting refrains hold a delicate melodic balance, halfway through further triumphant celebratory flourishes, Copeland-like, suggesting epic religious landscape sweeps.

Annunciation ups the tempo, giving off a dance-like epic folk feel, intensity and drama always to the fore.

Christ is Risen! is a joyful ecstatic piece, fast in tempo. Martin summarises: “During the production I had the impression that you actually don’t have to do that much. If you play what is in the score you will get in the respective moods automatically. You are totally captivated by the music.”

The final movement a return to sombre held tonality and deep reflection, the piece full of full of light and shadow.

The second work on the album is Tavener’s Svyati/Holy One set for choir and solo cello written in 1995.

Svyati refers to a moment in the Christian-Orthodox liturgy that has its origin in the funeral service.

The cello represents the priest or the icon of Christ and is designed to be played at some distance from the choir, if possible at the opposite end of the building. The recording here captures that immersive feel.

Martin has interpreted both works with gifted intelligence.