0:00:32 > 0:00:34Sir John Tavener, who died last year,
0:00:34 > 0:00:36was a composer with a unique musical voice,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39whose works touched the hearts of millions.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43His sacred choral music, inspired by his deep Orthodox faith,
0:00:43 > 0:00:47has been the soundtrack to some of this nation's most moving events.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Two of his works have been especially chosen to mark
0:00:50 > 0:00:53the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57in this special late-night prom given on the 4th of August
0:00:57 > 0:01:01and timed to coincide exactly with the moment war was declared.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Just before he died, he completed his Requiem Fragments,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08commissioned by the BBC and dedicated to the Tallis Scholars,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12the choir who will give the world premiere later in the concert.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14They are conducted by Sir John's friend, Peter Phillips,
0:01:14 > 0:01:19who describes the Requiem Fragments as a "miraculous masterpiece".
0:01:19 > 0:01:23First, though, the concert begins with his radiant choral work,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Ikon Of Light.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28It's a large-scale work written in 1984,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30the first piece Sir John Tavener wrote for the Tallis Scholars
0:01:30 > 0:01:33after hearing them sing Renaissance polyphony.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36It sets the extraordinary mystic prayer
0:01:36 > 0:01:40to the Holy Spirit by the Orthodox poet, St Symeon the New Theologian.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43It opens with the simple repetition of one word -
0:01:43 > 0:01:47"fos" - light - shining with the brightness of a gilded icon.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55When I look at an icon of the mother of God, say, or an icon of Christ,
0:01:55 > 0:01:59it moves me to bend my whole body in prostration before it.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04I love the icon of the tenderly kissing virgin.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08She is pointing and she always has to point to her son,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12but the child is not a sort of plump Renaissance baby.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16The child is stylised.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19There is a look of wisdom in his face which you wouldn't see
0:02:19 > 0:02:23on a straightforward painting of an infant.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I think I want to try and make a music,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30if it's possible, that is a kind of sounding icon.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54MUSIC "Ikon Of Light" by John Tavener
0:41:31 > 0:41:35APPLAUSE
0:41:50 > 0:41:53Sir John Tavener's Ikon Of Light.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57"It must unfold as a ritual in musical terms," he said,
0:41:57 > 0:41:59"attempting to express the inexpressible."
0:42:01 > 0:42:03The Tallis Scholars
0:42:03 > 0:42:06and members of the Heath Quartet were conducted by Peter Phillips.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Sir John Tavener was 69 when he died last year.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29He had struggled all his life with health problems.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33A stroke at the age of 35 changed totally his perspective on the world
0:42:33 > 0:42:38and strengthened his faith, firmly rooted in the Greek Orthodox Church.
0:42:38 > 0:42:39He started his musical career
0:42:39 > 0:42:42as an avant-garde radical in the 1960s
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and was signed to the Beatles' Apple record label.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Then he found a higher calling,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50writing almost exclusively sacred works.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52He was a complex character
0:42:52 > 0:42:55whose music has the power to speak to everyone, as we found out
0:42:55 > 0:42:58when we went to the home of tonight's conductor, Peter Phillips,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02who was a great friend of Sir John Tavener.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05He was the sort of man who, because of his height, really,
0:43:05 > 0:43:09and his very strange colour...
0:43:09 > 0:43:14He liked to lie in the sun or a substitute for the sun
0:43:14 > 0:43:19and he had gone a sort of orange colour and he had got this
0:43:19 > 0:43:23fantastic hair and a cross... big cross here on his chest.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26He was a very impressive man.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29I liked him a lot right from the start.
0:43:30 > 0:43:35I always found John to be quite humble,
0:43:35 > 0:43:38in the sense that he would always take suggestion and be
0:43:38 > 0:43:43interested in what I would have to say or anyone would have to say.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46He has been reported as being quite an arrogant man
0:43:46 > 0:43:48but I never really saw that.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52When he was driving his Rolls-Royce at 150mph down the motorway,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54I suppose that's a kind of arrogance,
0:43:54 > 0:43:59to have one at all, but I always... I never was put off by this.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01I found it very attractive.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03In the end, John wrote very intuitively,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05very instinctively, right there.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09He was capable of this very direct means of expression.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12He wrote for us some quite complicated...
0:44:12 > 0:44:14mathematically complicated pieces.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19But even those, I think, don't put people off.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23I think there's a style there which draws you in and it's to do with
0:44:23 > 0:44:26this instinctive feeling he's got
0:44:26 > 0:44:29for the atmosphere of a church service.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32And I used to go to the services with him which lasted all night,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34if necessary.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36But you get caught up in it.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39It's a kind of almost druggy situation, you know.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41You don't want it to stop.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44And he was very much caught up in it like that.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46When he came to write music, out it came.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51I went to stay with John one night about two years ago now,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54as I was passing by.
0:44:54 > 0:45:01And he asked me to take with me a score of a very complicated canon,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04mathematical construct by Josquin des Prez,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07a leading Renaissance composer.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10He'd got the recording and he could hear how complicated it was
0:45:10 > 0:45:12but he wanted to see it on paper.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15So I took this with me and we listened to it.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18He had this compulsive way of listening to things.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20It just went round and round and round.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23We spent all day just listening to this canon.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26I noticed that by him on the sofa
0:45:26 > 0:45:29was a manuscript that he was writing out in pencil.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31He found it very hard work -
0:45:31 > 0:45:33he was in great pain, actually, at this point - to write.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37But he was working on it. And he said, "I'm writing a requiem."
0:45:37 > 0:45:40He didn't say it was for us at that point.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44And I don't think he had written the last movement of it,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47which has a very complicated canon in it.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55Some weeks later, it was made clear that this was for us - for me
0:45:55 > 0:45:57and for the Tallis Scholars.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01And very interestingly, 30 years later,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05it seems to be related to the Ikon of Light and I don't know
0:46:05 > 0:46:10whether he was doing this on purpose or not. He never said.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14I do have a strong sense of responsibility in giving this
0:46:14 > 0:46:17first performance of what I think is a great work by a composer
0:46:17 > 0:46:20who happened to be a friend of mine and I will...
0:46:20 > 0:46:24I know that I am going to be trying to find him again in the notes.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28I'm sure I will but, er...
0:46:28 > 0:46:31such an overwhelming moment to perform
0:46:31 > 0:46:33a big piece like this in the Albert Hall. We'll see.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47BASSES: # Om... #
0:48:42 > 0:48:44OTHER VOICES JOIN IN
0:48:44 > 0:48:46# Requiem aeternam... #
0:51:27 > 0:51:32# Om... #
1:02:08 > 1:02:12SOLO SOPRANO SINGS
1:02:44 > 1:02:46OTHER VOICES JOIN IN
1:05:44 > 1:05:47SOLO SOPRANO SINGS
1:08:58 > 1:09:01SOLO SOPRANO SINGS
1:09:31 > 1:09:33BASSES: # Om... #
1:10:50 > 1:10:52APPLAUSE
1:11:10 > 1:11:13The world premiere of one of Sir John Tavener's final works -
1:11:13 > 1:11:16his Requiem Fragments.
1:11:16 > 1:11:21Performed by the Tallis Scholars...
1:11:23 > 1:11:25..with the Heath Quartet,
1:11:25 > 1:11:27soloist Carolyn Sampson...
1:11:30 > 1:11:33..the trombone players Roger Harvey and Barry Clements.
1:11:33 > 1:11:37And conducted by Sir John's great friend, Peter Phillips.
1:11:43 > 1:11:46A magical, ethereal experience here in the Albert Hall.
1:12:06 > 1:12:13100 years ago tonight, on the 4th of August 1914, at 11pm,
1:12:13 > 1:12:17midnight Berlin time, Great Britain entered the First World War.
1:12:18 > 1:12:21This late-night Prom with the world's premiere
1:12:21 > 1:12:25of one of John Taverner's last works, Requiem Fragments,
1:12:25 > 1:12:27therefore has an added poignancy.
1:12:29 > 1:12:34This Prom is also part of Lights Out, organised by 14-18 Now,
1:12:34 > 1:12:39a UK-wide event which invites everyone to turn out
1:12:39 > 1:12:43their lights from 10:00-11:00 PM this evening,
1:12:43 > 1:12:47leaving on a single light or candle for a shared moment of reflection.
1:12:50 > 1:12:54So may I ask the Prommers here in the Royal Albert Hall
1:12:54 > 1:12:56to light the candles they have been given.
1:13:00 > 1:13:04Samuel West is now going to read a poem by Wilfred Owen
1:13:04 > 1:13:08and then I will conduct the Tallis Scholars in a performance
1:13:08 > 1:13:10of The Lamb, by John Tavener.
1:13:16 > 1:13:18Anthem For Doomed Youth.
1:13:22 > 1:13:25What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
1:13:27 > 1:13:30Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
1:13:31 > 1:13:34Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
1:13:34 > 1:13:36Can patter out their hasty orisons.
1:13:38 > 1:13:40No mockeries now for them;
1:13:40 > 1:13:43no prayers nor bells;
1:13:43 > 1:13:46Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs
1:13:47 > 1:13:50The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
1:13:52 > 1:13:55And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
1:13:59 > 1:14:01What candles may be held to speed them all?
1:14:04 > 1:14:08Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
1:14:08 > 1:14:12Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
1:14:12 > 1:14:16The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
1:14:16 > 1:14:20Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
1:14:23 > 1:14:27And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
1:14:37 > 1:14:45# Little Lamb, who made thee?
1:14:45 > 1:14:52# Dost thou know who made thee?
1:14:55 > 1:14:59# Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
1:14:59 > 1:15:03# By the stream and o'er the mead
1:15:05 > 1:15:10# Gave thee clothing of delight
1:15:10 > 1:15:15# Softest clothing, woolly bright
1:15:18 > 1:15:25# Gave thee such a tender voice
1:15:27 > 1:15:33# Making all the vales rejoice?
1:15:35 > 1:15:40# Little Lamb
1:15:40 > 1:15:45# Who made thee?
1:15:47 > 1:15:54# Dost thou know
1:15:55 > 1:16:02# Who made thee?
1:16:10 > 1:16:16# Little Lamb, I'll tell thee
1:16:18 > 1:16:25# Little Lamb, I'll tell thee
1:16:26 > 1:16:32# He is called by thy name
1:16:32 > 1:16:38# For he calls himself a Lamb
1:16:38 > 1:16:43# He is meek, and he is mild
1:16:44 > 1:16:50# He became a little child
1:16:54 > 1:17:01# I, a child, and thou a lamb
1:17:02 > 1:17:09# We are called by his name
1:17:11 > 1:17:18# Little Lamb, God bless thee!
1:17:23 > 1:17:31# Little Lamb
1:17:31 > 1:17:40# God bless thee! #
1:17:54 > 1:17:58On the eve of the First World War, 100 years ago,
1:18:00 > 1:18:02the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey,
1:18:02 > 1:18:06spoke these words which have echoed down the decades.
1:18:06 > 1:18:09"The lamps are going out all over Europe.
1:18:12 > 1:18:14"We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."