Reviewed by John Irvine

Over the last two decades John Tavener has established within his output of music a place for sacred choral music perhaps unique amongst British composers since the reformation: he has made it the cornerstone of his vast body of works. As regular Cross Rhythms readers will be able to testify, stranger still is the fact that he conceives of this choral music as being for sacred places rather than the secular concert hall. "Innocence" is a recent work now committed to CD for the first time. As in much of Tavener's works, symbolism - what themes and groups of singers or musicians represent - is important. "Innocence" is a kind of representation of the suffering of the innocent, those who have been persecuted, the victims of oppression throughout the centuries. The main choir voices the agony and cruelty of the world; a soprano soloist (the lovely and magnificent Patricia Rozario) accompanied by a cellist offers the words of Divine Wisdom to console the souls of the oppressed; a male vocal group present the prayers and cries for justice of humanity; there's even a choir of angels thrown in for good measure. You get the picture. Unfortunately, the overall effect - at least on CD - is that Tavener is trying to be too clever by half. One drawback of a recording is that it is impossible without some form of surround sound encoding to present the work as Tavener intended with groups of singers and musicians spaced throughout a church so that the angel voices come from afar, so that music comes from in front of, to the sides of and behind an audience. Bit like Pink Floyd really. Without the special effects there is little to commend this work even to die hard Tavener enthusiasts, but all is not lost: just before the end there is a beautiful moment where it all comes together and there is the wonderful feeling that all of the musicians and singers really are playing the same piece. The preceding disjointed 25 minutes - which resemble a sketch book of unfinished ideas - is probably best forgotten. Accompanying "Innocence" are two pieces which have a connection with the theme of innocence and experience - Tavener's settings of the William Blake poems The Lamb and The Tyger - and a group of pieces which have all been recorded previously and seem to be included as CD fillers. Overall an unsatisfying collection with "Innocence" a disappointing new work. Performances are very good however. The problem lies in what has been performed.