In Principio, the newest one, is pretty amazing.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 23 June 2009 17:20 (fourteen years ago) link
fratres
― ramón gastro (omar little), Tuesday, 23 June 2009 17:25 (fourteen years ago) link
alina is also pretty incredible
― ramón gastro (omar little), Tuesday, 23 June 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Alina is a heart-breaker.
― krakow, Tuesday, 23 June 2009 21:56 (fourteen years ago) link
In Principio has some pretty out there religious liner notes. I understand he's a very religious composer, but still, the point of view here is pretty startling:
The title La Sindone refers to Jesus’ shroud (Santa Sindone) as described in the Gospel of Mark 15:46. Since 1578 this shroud has been located in Turin Cathedral. The story of the shroud, which has been scientifically examined several times, remains an enigma to the present day. . . .
The central third movement (vv.9-11) is not only the longest but the one whose message Pärt specially emphasised by repeating the words three times—something he had never done before in his vocal music. He evidently did so to send a signal directly to each and every one of us: ‘He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
At least there will be no altar call, since this is Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
I need to listen to the last composition some more. I am having trouble listening to this at all, because I don't feel comfortable cranking it up loud enough to catch all the chanegs in dynamics, but that last one stood out for me. (It's probably just easier to grasp.)
― _Rockist__Scientist_, Saturday, 5 September 2009 18:06 (fourteen years ago) link
'Da Pacem Domine', the first piece on the ECM "Lamentate" CD is incredible. I absolutely love his choral work.
I also got the "24 Preludes For A Fugue" DVD a couple of weeks ago. Anyone else seen that? It made me fall in love with him as a person as well; such a funny guy, very childlike at times in his delight with strange wee aspects of the world. Seeing him think and work in the film was wonderful.
― krakow, Tuesday, 22 September 2009 10:25 (fourteen years ago) link
Any recommendations outwith the ECM releases? I have all the ECM & Naxos CDs, but am fancying a bit more input.
I have these two as well, both of which are excellent:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41S9HTVH5AL._SS400_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519oq8t-xLL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
The first being 'Summa' on Virgin Classics by Paavo Jarvi & the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the second being a 2CD compilation on EMI Classics featuring some great organ & choral pieces on the second disc with Christopher Bowers-Broadbent.
I'm going to go back to trawl through my old Gramphone guide.
― krakow, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 11:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Hyperion & Harmonia Mundi are usually solid, is my current thinking...
― krakow, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 11:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyone else think Virginia Astley must have been a fan, specifically on "From Gardens Where we feel Secure..?"
― Flowersdie (Beril the peril), Tuesday, 29 September 2009 16:50 (fourteen years ago) link
holy shit at this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c08i_9gumJs
― always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 00:35 (thirteen years ago) link
and at the Magnificat (amazing video too)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbxnnC22gwY
this is something fundamental
― always changing, always the same (acoleuthic), Saturday, 5 June 2010 00:36 (thirteen years ago) link
there was a good program on BBC4 last week called Sacred Music, first half hour about Gorecki, second about Part. Gorecki was too ill to take part in the program himself, but they had lot of great footage of Part - hearing a radio interview he did in the 60s for the first time and reacting to it, attending the rehearsals to a new piece & giving meticulous instructions to the percussionists, talking about the influence of Estonian folk music etc. these things tend to get repeated a lot so its worth keeping an eye out.
― zappi, Saturday, 5 June 2010 01:16 (thirteen years ago) link
this is slightly OT; apologies if this has already been covered: what is with the diacritic above the a in Part?
― No disre but maryanne hobbs is peng trust me (jim in glasgow), Saturday, 5 June 2010 08:43 (thirteen years ago) link
not that my irl conversations involve a lot of discussion of estonian minimalist composers.
Oh well, the ä-question. His family name is really, actually, since birth -- Pärt. That's the correct spelling.
― t**t, Saturday, 5 June 2010 16:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Or did you rather mean, how to properly pronounce the name?The ä-vowel is pronounced pretty much like, say, the a is in the English names Matt or Pat. Whats more? The r in Pärt is not silent....That's about it, I think.
― t**t, Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link
yes i expressed that badly. I am pronouncing it correctly :)
― No disre but maryanne hobbs is peng trust me (jim in glasgow), Saturday, 5 June 2010 17:03 (thirteen years ago) link
The video of him playing through and talking about Alina posted above is amazing. I love to watch that and to see him thinking about and trying to explain what he was doing with the piece. The whole DVD that it comes from, "24 Preludes For A Fugue", is well worth getting/watching. He is an utterly charming and lovely man.
― krakow, Monday, 7 June 2010 11:36 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks for posting that, acoleuthic. In the midst of a dreadful morning at work, it's made my day.
― Michael Jones, Monday, 7 June 2010 12:19 (thirteen years ago) link
since then I have heard Te Deum, Fratres and the Cantus...pretty astonishing
― Mark Ronson: "Led Zeppelin were responsible for hip-hop" (acoleuthic), Monday, 7 June 2010 12:48 (thirteen years ago) link
In Nov '98 I saw Part's Litany and Trisagon performed (with the Hilliard Ensemble; two Erkki-Sven Tuur pieces were part of the programme too) at QEH. The great man was there. Gave us a little wave.
― Michael Jones, Monday, 7 June 2010 14:09 (thirteen years ago) link
I really liked the video too. I went to the BBC website to see if the Sacred Music program was on iPlayer, but no luck.
― I am using your worlds, Monday, 7 June 2010 14:12 (thirteen years ago) link
me too. sucky.
― Lil' Lj & The World (jim in glasgow), Monday, 7 June 2010 14:16 (thirteen years ago) link
That programme was actually part of a four-part series on sacred music (the second series made by the BBC on this topic). Other episodes in the series covered Tavener, Macmillan, Fauré &c. You can download the whole lot on torrent sites.
― anagram, Monday, 7 June 2010 14:30 (thirteen years ago) link
I've been listening to "Da Pacem Domine" from 'In Principio' a lot this last week. Absolutely breaking me to pieces in 5 and a half minutes.
There's a great live video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxKqg0Fwsro
― krakow, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Does your lady appreciate your Pärt?
― so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Anyway, that was pretty good. His works are never dour - they always have this sparkle to them
― so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:16 (thirteen years ago) link
My lady is lost.
― krakow, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:20 (thirteen years ago) link
I am alone in this harsh world once again.
alone, and with only the most gorgeous and threnodic of compositions to cradle your scalp
― so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Exactly. It's been a fortnight of Frank Sinatra's downer albums & Arvo Pärt's soul-quietening beauty.
― krakow, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:24 (thirteen years ago) link
WE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL WRETCHED
Seriously, I think an album built along the twin principles of Gothic existentialism and Arvo Pärt could be quite something
― so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:28 (thirteen years ago) link
http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/arvo-part-te-deum-swans-avatar-from-the-seer-round-40-nicks-choices/
― comedy is unnatural and abhorrent (Scik Mouthy), Thursday, 22 November 2012 16:14 (eleven years ago) link
Percussionist Kuniko Kato's Cantus album has some incredible arrangements of Fratres, Memory of Benjamin Britten and Spiegel im Spiegel. Unsurprisingly Pärt rates her very highly, it is shame she didn't do a full album of Pärt compositions because Reich bores the arse off me these days.
― Damo Suzuki's Parrot, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 18:20 (ten years ago) link
oh wow this sounds lovely
― schlump, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 19:13 (ten years ago) link
thanks for the heads up as i'd probably never have come across this otherwise. off to investigate.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 19:49 (ten years ago) link
...and they are fantastic. smitten!
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 October 2013 20:19 (ten years ago) link
yeah thanks from me too. MP3s are cheap on Amazon, btw
― Project Witch (I am using your worlds), Wednesday, 30 October 2013 20:27 (ten years ago) link
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir "Da Pacem" is amazing. Will also heartily second "Alina".
― Has talent, needs to figure out how to improve (staggerlee), Thursday, 31 October 2013 17:48 (ten years ago) link
US Grammy nominations:
Arvo Pärt's Adam’s Lament won nominations in two categories - Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Best Choral Performance (Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir with Tõnu Kaljuste directing).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 9 December 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link
With the announcement of the new ECM album 'The Deer's Cry', I realise I also totally missed 'Adam's Lament' back in 2012/2013. I'll end up buying them regardless, but any opinions (on either)?
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Monday, 12 September 2016 13:07 (seven years ago) link
I recently picked Adam's Lament up at a Value Village, of all places - I'm by no means an expert but it's very lovely.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 12 September 2016 18:40 (seven years ago) link
Thanks Simon.
I found this live performance of Adam's Lament in Toronto on Youtube and it's really beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCx-Meklym0
I'll definitely be getting the album.
― NWOFHM! Overlord (krakow), Wednesday, 21 September 2016 17:52 (seven years ago) link
Viktoria Mullova / Paavo Järvi/ Estonian National Symphony Orchestra - Arvo Pärt
^^^
stunning recording with some of his best hits from the 70's!
― calzino, Monday, 3 December 2018 09:17 (five years ago) link
The extant recordings are so definitive that I'm systematically disappointed by anyone else's take on these pieces. But I love them so much that I'll probably end up checking it out anyway.
― pomenitul, Monday, 3 December 2018 09:24 (five years ago) link
in that context you might well be disappointed. It was just perfect for my mood this morning.
― calzino, Monday, 3 December 2018 09:58 (five years ago) link
Which recordings do you mean by "extant"? Haven't most of Pärt's works been recorded several times by different orchestras/ensembles?
― Tuomas, Monday, 3 December 2018 22:09 (five years ago) link