A Christmas Round was composed for the Feast of St Nektarios of Aegina and text in both English and Greek is included with transliteration. The piece is unsigned for key or time. It has a distinctly Eastern Orthodoxflavour.John Tavener was that rare creature a composer of serious music and serious religious music who has also achieved commercial success. He burst into the popular consciousness with the performance of his Song for Atheneat the funeral of Princess Diana but had been a highly respected and frequently-performed composer since the premiere of his dramatic cantata The Whale in 1968.
