Although a prematurely frail figure by then it still comes as a bit of a shock that Britain's pre-eminent composer has died at the age of 69. In the 1990's he was one of a number of composers who either converted to or emerged in a renaissance of highly spiritual but accessible music along with Henryk Gorecki, Arvo Part and the younger James MacMillan. The Protecting Veil was a great commercial and artistic success in the recording by Steven Isserlis and the Song for Athene was a profoundly moving feature of Diana Spencer's funeral. As well as his numerous settings of religious texts, mostly taken from his adopted Greek Orthodox belief, two string quartets are of particular interest, The Last Sleep of the Virgin and The Hidden Treasure, one written to be heard at the threshold of audibility to represent his awareness at the edge of consciousness during serious illness.
One didn't need to share his religious convictions to appreciate the spiritual power of his music Of the many composers that one might be aware of now from our period, I'm sure his will be remembered as one of the far fewer names whose work will be played and appreciated throughout future generations.
