The Protecting Veil: Guy Johnston plays Tavener, Max Richter/Vivaldi, Vaughan Williams

Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Vivaldi Spring from The Seasons
Max Richter Vivaldi Recomposed: Spring
Vivaldi Winter from The Seasons
Max Richter Vivaldi Recomposed: Winter
John Tavener The Protecting Veil

Ruth Rogers violin
Guy Johnston cello
Joanna MacGregor conductor

This programme focuses on the power and lyricism of a large string orchestra, climaxing with John Tavener’s 45-minute cello concerto The Protecting Veil. Led by star cellist Guy Johnston, winner of BBC Musician of the Year and the Classical Brits, the listener is taken on a profound journey – serene, disruptive, joyful – bringing authenticity and mediation to a secular world. ‘I have tried to capture the cosmic power of the Mother of God,’ Tavener said, explaining the ‘protecting veil’ of the Virgin Mary; ‘the cello never stops singing throughout.’ It topped the classical charts after its premiere at the Proms in 1992 and was nominated for the Mercury Prize; a later Tavener work, Music for Athene, was sung at Princess Diana’s funeral.

Before that, Vaughan Williams’ sublime homage to his 16th century forebear, Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis – one of his most loved works – gives way to two of Vivaldi’s Seasons: fittingly Spring and Winter. Vivaldi’s superb Venetian virtuosity is subtly, and mesmerizingly, reimagined by the influential composer Max Richter from his 2014 hit album, Vivaldi Recomposed.

‘Guy Johnston captures Tavener’s wistful, yearning quality to perfection, surfing the music's impassioned dynamic range with a beguiling, velvet sonority that opens out thrillingly in moments of special intensity.’ – The Times