Lamentations and Praises

Co-commissioned by Chanticleer, the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Lamentations and Praises is a major 70-minute work, a liturgical drama written expressly for the 12 voices of Chanticleer and an unusual combination of instruments and electronics: flute, bass trombone, string quintet, tape, and a percussion section comprised of a Byzantine monastery bell, Tibetan temple bowl, tam-tam, simantron (a large wooden sounding-board struck with a hammer), tubular bells and timpani. The text, drawn from the service of Holy Friday, expresses the joy-sorrow of the Orthodox Christian conception of death and resurrection.

It is not so much a musical composition as a spiritual journey into a world of profound and prayerful meditation. To my ears, it's Tavener's finest work to date, arguably his masterpiece.

--John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune