Tavener: Missa Wellensis – Wells Cathedral Choir

   in Choir & Organ (Nov, 2016)
This fine addition to the Tavener discography brings together many works from the composer’s final years, some of which were commissioned by the Wells Cathedral Choir and here receive their premiere recordings. Following a serious heart attack that placed him in a coma, Tavener emerged from the experience with his religious faith dented and a three-year convalescence ahead during which he was often depressed and physically immobile. When he did return to composition, he tended to focus on short sacred pieces in the western rather than the Orthodox tradition. The main work on Matthew Owens’s well-filled CD is the Missa Wellensis, a double choir Latin setting from 2013. The Wells choir …