---

Programme Note

For the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations

Song of the Angel sets one word in Greek - Allelouia.
Al (as in ‘car’) - le (as in ‘leaves’) - lou (as in ‘rude’) - I - (as in ‘leaves’) - ya (as in yah)

The music should be sung and played with a restrained ecstasy. In other words it should not bring pounding of the heart, nor should it lead to melancholy. “Like all the music of the ‘East’ it should reveal in tranquility an eternal, angelic, ecstatic breath which liberated and humanises”. These are the words of Coomaraswamy.

John Tavener