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| The Whale | ||||
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| Released | 25 September 1970 (UK) 15 November 1970 (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||
| Genre | Classical | |||
| Length | 31:41 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Producer | Michael Bremner | |||
| John Tavener chronology | ||||
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The Whale is a "dramatic cantata" written by the English composer John Tavener in 1966.
The work is loosely based on the biblical allegory of Jonah and the Whale, although Tavener admitted that "The 'fantasy' grew and perhaps at times nearly 'swallowed' the biblical text: so the swallowing of Jonah became almost 'literal' in the biblical sense." [1]
The libretto includes the words of an encyclopaedia entry describing certain facts about the whale, and this is contrasted with themes within the music which attempt to portray the reality of the whale itself, whose existence is greater than the sum of all the facts about it.
The Whale has eight sections: I. Documentary, II. Melodrama and Pantomime, III. Invocation. IV. The Storm, V. The Swallowing, VI. The Prayer. VII. In the Belly, and VIII. The Vomiting.
It was premiered at the inaugural concert of the London Sinfonietta under David Atherton at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 24 January 1968. It was heard again at a Proms concert on 1 August 1969, with the same orchestra and conductor, with vocal soloists Anna Reynolds and Raimund Herincx. Also featured were Alvar Lidell as narrator, and the composer playing pipe and hammond organs. In July 1970, The Whale was recorded in Islington, London with the same musicians. It was released as an album by The Beatles' Apple Records label later that year.
The Apple recording was re-released on record in 1977 on Ringo Starr's label, Ring 'O Records, with a different cover. In 1992 a CD version was released by Apple with the original cover art and libretto. In 2010 the album was once again reissued on Apple Records CD, paired with Celtic Requiem .
Jonah or Jonas is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible, hailing from Gath-hepher in the Kingdom of Israel around the 8th century BCE. He is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, which details his reluctance in delivering the judgment of Yahweh to the city of Nineveh in Assyria. After he is swallowed by a large sea creature and then released, he returns to the divine mission.
Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart is an American singer-songwriter. She released five albums from 1996 to 2020, all of which reached the top 20 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards and nominations, including three Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and a Billboard Music Award.
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Sir John Kenneth Tavener was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are The Lamb (1982), The Protecting Veil (1988), and Song for Athene (1993).
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The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London.
Michael Mantler is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music.
Carla Bissi, known professionally as Alice or Alice Visconti, is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who began her career in the early 1970s. After releasing three albums by the end of the decade, her breakthrough came in 1981 when she won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa". This was followed by European hit singles like "Una notte speciale", "Messaggio", "Chan-son Egocentrique", "Prospettiva Nevski" and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Hotel, Elisir, and Il sole nella pioggia which charted in Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan.
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The Radha Krsna Temple is a 1971 album of Hindu devotional songs recorded by the UK branch of the Hare Krishna movement – more formally, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) – who received the artist credit of "Radha Krishna Temple (London)". The album was produced by George Harrison and released on the Beatles' Apple record label. It compiles two hit singles, "Hare Krishna Mantra" and "Govinda", with other Sanskrit-worded mantras and prayers that the Temple devotees recorded with Harrison from July 1969 onwards.
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Brother is the debut album by the American pop-rock duo Lon & Derrek Van Eaton. It was released on the Beatles' Apple record label in September 1972 in the United States and February 1973 in Britain. It includes the single "Sweet Music", produced by George Harrison, and was otherwise produced by Klaus Voormann, a friend and longtime associate of the Beatles. On release, the album received favorable reviews from music critics but failed to achieve commercial success. Rolling Stone critic Stephen Holden hailed it as a "staggeringly impressive first album".
In December 1999, Icelandic avant-pop singer Björk and acclaimed British string ensemble the Brodsky Quartet gave two intimate, stand-alone concerts at London’s historic Union Chapel. Björk sang a collection of songs from her first three studio albums, Debut, Post, and Homogenic, all newly arranged for string quartet by the Brodsky, plus covers of songs by Elvis Costello and Petula Clark, among others. The two concerts, held on 9 and 11 December 1999, were critically praised by the London press but have never received an official release outside of a small selection of performances found on Björk’s 2002 box set, Family Tree.
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