Sir John Tavener, a classical composer from the UK left us yesterday the 14th. I really enjoyed everything he composed. In the title I should have said "Contemporary Composer."

My opinion and some trivia about him.

His work A New Beginning, when sung on the cusp of the new millennium at the Millennium Dome in London, gave value and endorsement to the choral culture of this country. After the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, it was said that choir singers from all over the world hurried to find copies of his Song for Athene, which was sung at that service, so that they too could enter that ethereal, comforting, deeply personal and uniquely imagined sound world.

If you had a chance to see him in the late 1970s you would probably look look in amazement at this tall, charismatic, suntanned man with flowing blond hair, dressed in a white suit who talked in a quiet and rather self-effacing way.

He was a Beatles associate since the 1960's and was signed to The Beatles' Apple label.

So it was that Tavener burst onto the public scene in 1968 with the help of The Beatles: His 1966 cantata The Whale was recorded and released on the Beatles' Apple label, which led to a friendship and association with the Fab Four.

Those who have enjoyed your music greatly will miss you and your musical genius.