With a demonstration by Roman Catholic conservatives outside the cathedral, the Prince of Wales in the audience and Radio 3 granting the concert the rare honour of a live relay, the premiere of John Tavener's latest choral work was certainly an event. At just 80 minutes, The Beautiful Names may be a bagatelle by Tavener's standards, but his setting of the 99 Arabic names used for Allah in the Qur'an has already attracted comment and criticism from well beyond the musical world.

Tavener says his aspiration in the piece is to "join the vision of the Outward (the tangible) to the Inward (the spiritual)", and to create a unity across religious boundaries. So there are structural elements in The Beautiful Names making connections with other traditions - the regular beats of a native American drum represent Shiva's drum from Hindu mythology, while a concatenation of Tibetan temple bowls and gongs stands for the Divine Breath. So it goes on.

Underpinning all these metaphors is a tightly controlled musical structure. The settings of the 99 names are divided into nine cycles of 11; most of the names are uttered first by the tenor soloist (John Mark Ainsley, immensely authoritative in a hugely taxing role), and then taken up by the choir (the BBC Symphony Chorus). Some last just a couple of bars, other settings are far more extended, and as always with Tavener, there are moments of great choral splendour and incisive orchestral commentary, alongside music that seems far less focused and purposeful. Jiri Belohlavek's brisk performance attempted to counter that, but really was too terse; Tavener's effusions need more time and space than they were often allowed here.