The Music of Silence: A Composer’s Testament

One of today’s leading composers reflects on the relationship of music to the spiritual dilemmas of our time

In the 1960s, John Tavener’s music appeared on the Beatles’ Apple label. “The Protecting Veil”–one of the bestselling classical recordings of all time–made him a household name in the eighties, and his “Song for Athene” was heard worldwide when it was played at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.

Yet behind this enormous success is a spiritual dimension, which became explicit after Tavener was received into the Russian Orthodox Church in 1977. With his wide intellectual curiosity and searching musical imagination it comes as no surprise that he possesses a profound and far-reaching musical “philosophy.” The Music of Silence gives voice to this philosophy. Based on extensive conversations between the composer and his longtime friend Brian Keeble, it covers his early influences, his attitude and often controversial reactions to the music of his contemporaries, the sacred and religious underpinnings of his faith, as well as the technical aspects of composition.