Album: John Tavener, Requiem (EMI Classics)

Recorded by the same team that premiered the piece at Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral last year – the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko – the seven-movement Requiem may be the ultimate realisation of John Tavener's multi-faith attitudes, blending textual fragments from Islamic, Hindu and Christian sources, and incorporating Tibetan temple bells and Native American drums alongside the orchestra.

The work pivots around a lone cello around which swirl the waves of choral harmony, the rolling percussion, the glinting brass and the clear, pure tone of soprano Elin Manahan Thomas. It's accompanied here by "Eternal Memory" and "Mahashakti", similarly possessed of comforting awe.

Download this: "Primordial White Light", "Kali's Dance", "Ananda", "Mahashakti"