I don't think Beethoven expresses religious truth. He expresses a human truth. — John Tavener He Copy Share Image
When I talk of primordial innocence, I hear it in Sufi music with the nay flute. I see it in Coptic icons,… — John Tavener Art Copy Share Image
I've got great joy from rediscovering Western music. I love Schumann and Chopin, and those amazing symphonies of Bruckner. — John Tavener Amazing Copy Share Image
The path I follow is still an Orthodox path. You have to follow a path; otherwise, it becomes a little bit new-age,… — John Tavener Becomes Copy Share Image
The thing I regret most about my life are those inane photos of me with icons. They used to come down here… — John Tavener Dress Copy Share Image
We seem to have lost our contact with the primordial: the idea of - call it divine revelation as opposed to something… — John Tavener Divine Copy Share Image
I think I've been very lucky all my life because the writing and the faith seem to go together. — John Tavener Faith Copy Share Image
My consultant keeps telling me sudden death could come at any moment. — John Tavener Come Copy Share Image
Every woman I have known has actually deepened my spiritual awareness. Even if I have been a selfish man and treated them… — John Tavener Awareness Copy Share Image
The music is something outside myself that's also inside myself... Music and a sense of another presence always went hand in hand.… — John Tavener Hand in hand Copy Share Image
In his late quartets, Beethoven introduces an element that shouldn't be there, that should be left for meditation, though I love them.… — John Tavener I love Copy Share Image
I think there will always be a possibility that God doesn't exist because He is infinitude and into that infinitude must come… — John Tavener Always Copy Share Image
I don't hate pop music. I liked the Beatles, but then, I knew them. — John Tavener Beatles Copy Share Image
I've written a very long piece of music recently, the 'Veil of the Temple,' which lasts about seven hours. It's really a… — John Tavener Long Copy Share Image
I used to think there was something dirty about being paid for something which is a sacred thing to do. I can't… — John Tavener Music Copy Share Image
Suffering is a kind of ecstasy in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment… — John Tavener Every moment Copy Share Image
Hildegard von Bingen conveys spiritual ecstasy, if we're talking of Western music. What bothers me about Western music is that it doesn't… — John Tavener Hindu Copy Share Image
I've always been aware of mortality because I've always had ill health most of my life. — John Tavener Always Copy Share Image
'Canticum Sacrum' is wonderfully archaic. What Stravinsky does is extraordinary. It takes you on a journey from Gregorian chant right through to… — John Tavener Extraordinary Copy Share Image
I was having these terrible back pains, and then one day in Switzerland, things got very bad. My wife Maryanna called the… — John Tavener Bad Copy Share Image
'The Whale' was in the category of so-called serious music, and yet it brings together a wide series of musical styles. It… — John Tavener Beatles Copy Share Image
