A Portrait: His Works / His Life (2 CDs of music plus a detailed essay and photographs)

Sir John Tavener has been a unique, controversial and ever-evolving figure on the contemporary music scene since the late sixties. Although his music was strongly influenced by the Eastern Orthodox Church for twenty years, he has recently started to move in a new direction. These CDs encompass a representative cross-section of his music, including the world premiere of Prayer of the Heart, written for and sung by Björk, and part of his most popular work The Protecting Veil. The composer himself also speaks in detail for the first time about his new sources of inspiration, and reminisces about his early career, his passions, and his struggles with serious illness. Combined with a comprehensive essay, this portrait paints the definitive picture of one of the most charismatic and important composers working today.

2 CDs with nearly 2 hours of music
Tavener himself speaks in detail - a recorded interview

"Naxos celebrates John Tavener's 60th birthday (which fell in January) with a generously produced retrospective anthology. The biographical booklet by David McCleery is a model of its kind, clearly and engagingly written, and is complemented on the discs by the composer's own spoken reflections, edited from an interview...Even Tavener's loyal admirers will find something new here; for others, it's an extremely useful introduction to a significant and utterly individual body of work."
--Review by Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine, March 2004

"So, an inspiration for Tavener devotees and, with its enjoyable though uncritical booklet, a good start for novices too..."
--Review by Clare Mackney, Birmingham Post, March 13, 2004

"I would like to think that John Tavener - A Portrait, released by Naxos to commemorate the composer's 60th birthday, is somewhere lower down on the BPI list, because it uses the compilation idea so effectively: a combination of complete pieces, extras and one or two novelties."
--Review by Rob Cowan, The Independent, March 8, 2004