Proms 2011: John Tavener - Popule meus (UK Première)

Right, where were we? • Saturday 3 September brought the last of the Proms' Matinee concerts from the Cadogan Hall, each of which has featured contemporary music prominently • This final occasion was no exception, including works by Tippett & Sofia Gubaidulina, & presenting the first UK performance of John Tavener's Popule meus • The work bears a similarity to one of Tavener's most well-known pieces, The Protecting Veil, also scored for solo cello & strings, augmented here by a prominent role for timpani; it was performed by the Britten Sinfonia with the solo part taken by Natalie Clein • Tavener's title, Popule meus ('O my people'), is a reference to the Reproaches, one of the most poignant texts to be sung during Holy Week, in which God puts humanity on the spot about their wholesale rejection of Him • It takes place at a time of great solemnity on Good Friday, & becomes one of the most challenging moments in the Christian year • As such, it is in every way the complete opposite of Tavener's piece, which strives for tragedy, but ends up merely tragic •

What we're presented with is one of the most fantastically horrific demonstrations of pseudo-composition ever to be heard at the Proms, or indeed any concert • Scraping the absolute bottom of the creative barrel, Tavener bowdlerises his potentially deeply inspiring & thought-provoking subject—humanity's struggle against its Creator—boiling down his music into a catalogue of bare, empty, cliché-ridden doggerel, in which dissonance & loud dynamics (given, you guessed it, to the timpani & lower strings) equal 'nasty/scary/evil', while soft neo-romantic pastiche (the cello, of course, & upper strings) naturally equate to 'pleasant/compassionate/sacred' • From the pen of, say, a GCSE student, threadbare claptrap of this order might perhaps be forgiveable; but in a context such as this, served up with such sanctimonious piety, it's hard to know whether to laugh out loud or just vomit •

Let's be very clear about this, there's no way the egregious qualities of this piece can be sublimated; it's simple, yes—but this is absolutely no Christ-like simplicity; it's childish—but absolutely not in the sense of those to whom "the kingdom of heaven belongs"; it's traditional—but bears absolutely no relation or witness to that living, evolving, searching & ultimately radical religious tradition to which Tavener supposedly subscribes • Popule meus would be boring if wasn't so utterly revolting •

John Tavener - Popule meus (UK Première) [18:58]
FLAC [73Mb]
MP3 [v0 vbr | 29Mb]
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