Mother and child was commissioned by Tenebrae in 2003 and premiered at the Salisbury Festival of that year. The universal aspect of motherhood and, more specifically, that of Mary the mother of Christ (as co-redeemer) is an idea to which Tavener has returned again and again in his music. However, behind this concept lies that of infinite theophanic light, an idea common to all religious traditions. Tavener’s music here interpolates a poem by Brian Keeble with Greek and Sanskrit quotations, the latter in a climactic outburst (of ‘ATMA’, representative in Tavener’s words of ‘the supreme reality, the true self, shining and infinite, the one single God’). The music, having grown in crescendo, is joined by massive organ chords and develops to become an overwhelming pulsating texture at the climax, with awesome strokes sounded on a large Hindu temple gong. The clamour dissipates at the final invocation, ‘Hail Maria’, which is prayerful and contemplative.

from notes by Jeremy Filsell © 2003