John Tavener’s music is powerfully linked to his lifetime exploration of the metaphysical and spiritual, in search of truth beyond worldly concerns. Heard here in its version for soloist and strings, Pratirūpa is one of Tavener’s longer piano works, its title a Sanskrit word meaning ‘reflection’. This Universalist meditative starting point sees the ensemble become its own reflection, the evocative sounds of the piano echoed and transformed by the orchestra, rendering the magical resonances of each both separate and indistinguishable at the same time. Ralph van Raat’s solo recording of Pratirūpa and other piano music by Tavener is available on Naxos 8.570442, and he can also be heard performing Arvo Pärt “with both sensitivity and verve” (BBC Music Magazine on 8.572525).