Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
Credo
Kalle Randalu (piano)
Estonian National Male Choir, Ellerhein Alumni Choir, Ellerhein Girls’ Choir
Estonian Festival Orchestra/Paavo Järvi
rec. 2025, Pärnu Concert Hall, Pärnu, Estonia
Alpha Classics 1158 [74]
This release is a tribute to Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in recognition of his ninetieth birthday, and very special it is. I cannot think of a better introduction to his music, primarily his orchestral oeuvre. I recall the excitement back in 1984 when ECM released the first of many Pärt discs, with Cantus, Fratres and Tabula Rasa. It made his name for classical music lovers overnight, and is still one of my favourite Pärt CDs. It is to Alpha’s credit that this disc can be placed alongside that milestone and its ECM successors as essential listening for anyone who cares about Pärt’s music.
The earliest piece on the programme, Credo, is also the longest at 12:35, and it employs the grandest forces: large orchestra, chorus and solo piano. Pärt composed it before his so-called “holy minimalist” or tintinnabuli (small, tinkling bells) style for which he is best known today. It is true that he employs those small bells in his works, but also larger chimes.
Credo, a fine example of his earlier style, is a collage piece. When Neeme Järvi conducted the premiere, it was so well received that the audience demanded a repeat then and there. The Soviet critics, on the other hand, were not at all pleased when they discovered the work. Credo begins quietly. The choir intones the biblical words set to Bach’s Prelude in C major from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier, then builds from there until the choir and orchestra burst forth on a C major chord before becoming much more dissonant. There are several loud dissonant phrases and some aleatoric passages before the piano plays the opening of the Bach prelude softly. The work ends quietly, too.
Credo has retained its popularity, even if it is not what one usually associates with Arvo Pärt. I compared this new account with an excellent account for DG, on an album featuring pianist Hélène Grimaud and Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony and Choir. They add almost three minutes to the timing, and their approach may be more monumental, if not as exciting as Paavo Järvi’s. Both capture the spirit of the piece well, but Järvi’s recording has even greater presence.
Fratres and Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, in much more familiar Pärt territory, have received countless performances. The composer has fashioned the former in all kinds of guises. The one here is for strings and percussion. It is a set of variations by the strings with bass drum and claves punctuating the music. Listening to it can be addictive!
Pärt composed Cantus after he discovered Briten’s music and shortly following his death. After an initial bell tolls three times, violins enter in a high register and descend slowly. They are then joined by the lower strings with occasional bell strokes until the work concludes with one final, distant bell quietly sounding. This account is as fine as the original one on ECM, and haunts the listener a considerable time afterwards. Fratres and Cantus are prime examples of the composer’s tintinnabuli style.
Für Lennart in memoriam is a work Pärt wrote in memory of former Estonian President Lennart Meri. Meri was a friend, and also had been a colleague of the composer at Estonian Radio. Meri requested the piece to be played at his memorial service. It is a threnody, a lament for strings based on a Church Slavonic text Pärt had placed under the double bass part in the score. As performed here, it is quite moving, with a rich, full string sound.
A different sort of tribute is Da pacem Domine. Pärt composed it for a peace concert organized by conductor Jordi Savall to commemorate the victims of the Madrid terrorist attack in 2004. Based on a ninth-century Gregorian antiphon Give us peace, Lord, it has been performed in Spain every year. The piece has several scorings. The one included here is for strings only, though the sung text is printed in the CD booklet. A version with strings and choir is available on an ECM disc conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste with various Estonian forces. Both accounts are excellent, and convey well the sombre nature of the work that pleads for universal peace.
Mein Weg – originally written for organ – reminds me of American minimalism with its repeated rhythm. It is a motion piece scored here for strings and percussion, which moves at three different speeds.
La Sindone is a major work with great contrasts in dynamics. It begins powerfully with prominent percussion, strings and trombone. Next, it settles into a quieter section before building up again. It becomes quite dissonant, but ends softly on a chime and low chord in the strings. Pärt composed La Sindone for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and the piece refers to the mystical Turin Shroud. The composer revised the work in 2015 for the Pärnu Music Festival. I assume the revision is what is heard here, though the liner notes do not say it is.
Another of Pärt’s later compositions is Swansong. It was first performed in Salzburg at the 2024 Mozartwoche Festival, where Pärt was the featured composer. According to Järvi, as quoted in the booklet note, the piece is almost cinematic in its depiction of swans. Like the Finns, the Baltic peoples see swans everywhere. Swansong is quite melodic and tonal, and beautifully written especially for woodwinds and strings.
Most of the compositions on this programme have been recorded before. The exception is Silhouette, dedicated to Paavo Järvi and Orchestre de Paris. It receives its premiere recording here. The architecture of the Eiffel Tower inspired Pärt for this piece. Silhouette contains lots of bells and strings, and other percussion. Pizzicato strings symbolize the airy and floating nature of the tower. In contrast, more stable bowed strings refer to the platforms of the tower. This impressive work is authoritatively performed by these forces.
The disc concludes with the very brief Estonian Lullaby, sung by the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir with string accompaniment. This simple, folklike tune was commissioned by Jordi Savall for his ensemble Hespèrion XXI. The text “Kuss-kuss kallike”, words to soothe a young child to sleep, has no other meaning in Estonian. It seems like the perfect way to conclude the programme!
There is much here to draw a listener to Arvo Pärt’s music, though it is only one important aspect of his oeuvre. To get a fuller picture, one must gain exposure to the substantial choral works, a significant portion of his compositions. What is presented here, though, is performed and recorded to the highest standards. Alpha has contributed a high-quality product with rather all-too-brief notes by Gramophone’s Emeritus Editor, James Jolly. This is a mandatory acquisition for those who come to Arvo Pärt for the first time, and for committed fans.
Leslie Wright
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Contents
La Sindone (2006, rev. 2015)
Fratres (1977)
Swansong (2013)
Für Lennart in memoriam (2006)
Da pacem Domine (2004)
Silhouette (2009)
Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten (1977)
Mein Weg (1989/1999, rev. 2000)
Credo (1968)
Estonian Lullaby (2006)
