The death last week of composer John Tavener has led me to think about the idea of the ‘sacred’ in music. A profoundly religious man – he was a convert to Russian Orthodoxy – Tavener’s faith and sense of mysticism suffused much of his music. Historically, and in the minds of most people today, the sacred in music is, as it was with Tavener, inextricably linked with religious faith. Yet, I think that we lose something of what is ‘sacred’ about sacred […]

Categories: Atheism & Religion, Culture & Books • Tags: art, britten, classical music, leszek kolakowski, messiaen, modernism, religion, religious art, rothko, sacred, stravinsky