John Tavener's The Whale reviewed - archive, October 12 October 1970

12 October 1970 Tavener’s fantasy world has something in common with latter-day Beatle-sounds

If any work of the young avant-garde deserved the distinction (or otherwise) of appearing on the Beatles Apple label, it is John Tavener’s fantastic cantata The Whale, telling the story of Jonah. It would be pitching it too high to say that The Whale could not have been written without Sergeant Pepper coming before it, but plainly Tavener’s fantasy world, his almost childish love of playing with sound, has something in common with latter-day Beatle-sounds. Here is a work which just conceivably might provide a bridge. Just as the Soft Machine at the Proms aimed at doing that from the other side, so this new record of The Whale (Apple SAPCOR 15) could help to break barriers.

Related: John Tavener - how the Guardian hailed a star aged 24