I used to think there was something dirty about being paid for something which is a sacred thing to do. I can’t disconnect the act of writing music from the act of prayer. If anyone tries to stop me working, it feels like someone is trying to stop me from taking communion. John Tavener Read Quote
In his late quartets, Beethoven introduces an element that shouldn’t be there, that should be left for meditation, though I love them. I can see that through them came Wagner and Mahler and Schoenberg and Berg. And then came Tracey Emin. And I can see it all as one downward path. John Tavener Read Quote
Canticum Sacrum’ is wonderfully archaic. What Stravinsky does is extraordinary. It takes you on a journey from Gregorian chant right through to the modernism of Webern – and all in 17 minutes. John Tavener Read Quote
I’ve written a very long piece of music recently, the ‘Veil of the Temple,’ which lasts about seven hours. It’s really a kind of vigil. It takes place during the night, waiting for the resurrection of Christ. John Tavener Read Quote
Suffering is a kind of ecstasy in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I’ve got. John Tavener Read Quote
The Whale’ was in the category of so-called serious music, and yet it brings together a wide series of musical styles. It was influenced by people such as The Beatles, the spirit of the times, and I think ‘The Whale’ certainly had a pop element to it. John Tavener Read Quote
I’ve always been aware of mortality because I’ve always had ill health most of my life. John Tavener Read Quote
When I talk of primordial innocence, I hear it in Sufi music with the nay flute. I see it in Coptic icons, in most traditional art, particularly art of the American Indian. I find the texts extraordinarily beautiful and very childlike and very simple. I’ve been particularly interested in American Indian texts. John Tavener Read Quote
I’ve got great joy from rediscovering Western music. I love Schumann and Chopin, and those amazing symphonies of Bruckner. John Tavener Read Quote
