John Tavener, British music's controversial mystic, turned 60 this year, an event marked with this concert, the programme for which consisted of a clutch of newish works written since 2002.

Tavener's belief system has changed of late, with a move away from orthodox Christianity towards what he describes as "a realisation that the same essential truths lie hidden beneath the forms of all great traditions". His music hasn't always moved with his beliefs, however, and the first pair of works in the programme - the choral, Sufi-inspired Schuon Hymnen and Pratiputra, a Hindu-based piano concerto - presented us yet again with the quintessential Tavener mixture of ritual and stasis.

Both works take as their starting point the origins of all sacred music, namely a series of responses on the part of the choir or congregation (or the orchestra in Pratiputra) to the statements of a celebrant (baritone solo and piano respectively). Each devolves through a series of slow, mantra-like repetitions of its basic material in ways that some find illuminating, though it drives most of us to the edge of boredom.

Tavener would probably argue that God, in whichever discipline you choose, is essentially unchanging and that stasis is consequently the most appropriate representation of the divine. Man's response to God, however, is ceaselessly fluctuating - which is why the great religious works, from Bach to Schoenberg, are always incredibly complex.

Tavener is infinitely better at miniatures - or sequences of miniatures - where stasis plays no part. The best work of the evening was Supernatural Songs, for mezzo and orchestra, which has a rhythmic complexity and a melodic immediacy that much of his other music lacks.

The performances, from the choral group Polyphony and the English Chamber Orchestra with pianist Ralf Gothoni, were all exemplary, while Sarah Connolly negotiated the deceptively tricky vocal line of Supernatural Songs with great sensuality and spiritual sincerity.