Pärt: Tabula Rasa; Fratres; Symphony No. 3

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
DG's beautifully packaged and produced 20/21 series here pays homage to Arvo Pärt, presenting a new interpretation of two of his most familiar works--already indisputable classics--Tabula Rasa and Fratres. For all of their "minimalist" technique, there's a fathomless--call it timeless, if you will--beauty to these scores the deeper you plunge into their hypnotic sound world. The best place to discover them remains ECM's breakthrough release Tabula Rasa. Unlike Gidon Kremer (the superb interpreter of that recording), and despite an epiphany he mentions in the booklet--likening this music to the desert landscape of Utah--Gil Shaham doesn't seem to grasp one of the key components of that beauty: its austerity, its distance, as through a glass. There's an exquisite finish to his tone, to be sure, but Shaham essentially overromanticizes this music, coating it with a lovely but undifferentiated sheen, although he does hint at the vocal character of his lines. Passages of Fratres thus sound curiously tamed, as if we could be listening to such pastoral blandishments as The Lark Ascending or, in Tabula Rasa, to a Vivaldi andante. Despite this disappointment, the disc offers a thoroughly compelling account of the Third Symphony (1971) by its dedicatee, Neeme Järvi. It's fascinating to hear Pärt's points of origin--Soviet music, chant from the Orthodox Church, the fascination with bell sounds--so clearly delineated and transmogrified as in this work. Järvi molds its colorful but somber scoring into vividly dramatic shapes, hinting at Shostakovich in the chasm-deep bass lines tugging against the piercing treble or--as in the haunting opening solo--at the bleak majesty of a Sibelius landscape. The very success of Pärt's better-known works has tended to obscure the quality of such earlier pieces, but this performance helps widen the perspective to a more inclusive one. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Not the best performances, but still a pretty good collection.......2007-04-20

Naxos has never provided the best performances of the music of Arvo Part--the long line of ECM recordings were made under the composer's supervision and thus may be seen as definitive--but the collection ARVO PART: A PORTRAIT is a nice effort indeed. Issued in 2005, the year of the Estonian composer's 70th birthday, this package features selections from nearly his entire career over two discs, in recordings drawn from the Naxos, BIS, and Nimbus labels, and also contains a 78-page booklet with Nick Kimberley's essay "Arvo Part: A Musical Journey".

Arvo Part came to worldwide attention through the minimalistic and overtly spiritual music he began composing in the mid-1970s, but ARVO PART: A Portrait features some music from his early career as well. Part was something of an enfant terrible in the Soviet music world, and in the 1960s he infuriated the socialist realist musical establishment by producing dodecaphonic and collage works through the 1960s. From this era we get the second movement of the Symphony No. 1, the "Collage ueber B-A-C-H", and the cello concerto "Pro et Contra". One does regret, however, that his important piece "Credo", discussed at some length in Kimberley's piece, is not featured here, but perhaps Naxos could not find a recording that could be licensed for inclusion here.

The bulk of the collection, however, is dedicated to Part's "holy minimalism" output, a style which he calls "tintinnabuli" for its bell-like tones. Two selections from his hour-long masterpiece "Passio" are included here, one begin four minutes long and the other twelve. Of the "Berliner Messe" we have the Kyrie and Credo, and the other late pieces here are included full-length.

"Fur Alina", the exceedingly simple piano piece he wrote in 1976, breaking a silence of nearly a decade, is featured here in its scored form in performance by Alexei Lubimov. The ECM recording of this piece is a much longer improvisation by Alexander Malter, so this Naxos collection (or the BIS disc the selection was drawn from) is a good way to hear the piece at its most simple.

Over the last decade or so, Part has began reconciling his tintinnabuli style to the more fiery spirit of his youth. However, none of those pieces, such as "Como cieva sedienta" are represented here, which is regrettable.

While the Naxos performances of Part's music are not the best available, only the Naxos recording of "Tabula Rasa" by the Ulster Orchestra and Takuo Yuasa is outright unlistenable. The rest are acceptable, and this collection makes a more more economical introduction to Part's career than the many full-price ECM discs. And for established Part fans, the included essay by Nick Kimberley is interesting reading, especially when the only other major English-language coverage of Part, Paul Hillier's Arvo Part (Oxford Studies of Composers), is difficult to find.

A Written and Sound Portrait of One of Our Most Important Composers.......2005-07-13

"Contemporary classical music which genuinely touches people is rare, but the rapt, contemplative music of Arvo Pärt communicates readily, and without pandering to the demands of a mass audience." -- Nick Kimberley

"It is enough when a single note is beautifully played." -- Arvo Pärt

These two comments shed light on Arvo Pärt, both the music and the man. An intensely private man who came of age in repressive Stalinist Soviet Estonia but who always maintained his stalwart religious beliefs, against all fashion, and who, though he started out as an avant-gardist, became the prophet of what has been called 'the new simplicity,' Arvo Pärt is perhaps the most beloved composer of classical music in the world. His music is known by people who have almost no interest otherwise in classical music, largely because of the effect it has on even the casual listener, as reflected in Nick Kimberley's comment above. It also has devoted followers among the musical cognoscenti. His piece 'Fratres,' in its myriad forms, is his most widely performed work, but it is probably his ecstatic 'Passio' that has created the most devoted following, particularly following its first recording by the Hilliard Ensemble on the ECM label.

This release has two CDs chockfull of unfailingly beautiful performances of Pärt's music, generally in complete movements taken from releases by Naxos and other labels. Such disparate works as his spare piano piece, 'Für Alina,' movements of his Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3, the 'Berliner Messe,' the 'Magnificat,' 'Collage über B-A-C-H,' 'Spiegel im Spiegel,' and 'Triodion,' are represented here. Two versions of 'Fratres' are included, one for cello and piano, the other for percussion and strings. His cello and orchestra work, 'Pro et Contra,' is performed by Frans Helmerson and the Bamberg Symphony under Neeme Järvi. Excerpts from 'Passio' ('Passion According to the Gospel of St. John') from the recording by Antony Pitts, Pärt expert and a composer in his own right, and his choral group Tonus Peregrinus are particularly haunting. Celebrated organist Kevin Bowyer is heard playing Pärt's 'Annum per annum.'

The illuminating accompanying essay, 70 pages long, is by Nick Kimberley, a noted British arts critic. All of this is in a glossy booklet enclosed in a cardboard box, typical of Naxos's classy presentation of both recorded music and booklet notes.

This release is for all those who are already devotees of Pärt's music and for those who are just coming to admire his music. The budget price makes it all the more attractive.

2 CDs TT=164mins

Scott Morrison

Pärt: Tabula Rasa; Fratres; Symphony No. 3

Average customer rating:

Stunning... and better with every replay
Simply magnificent
Part Noir
Two pieces in poor performance, but a fine 3rd Symphony
Definitive recording? Try again..

Pärt: Tabula Rasa; Fratres; Symphony No. 3

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Alina - Arvo Part
Tabula Rasa
Litany
Part: Summa
Arvo Part: Kanon Pokajanen

ASIN: B00001IVON
Release Date: 1999-09-14

Tracks:

Fratres (For Violin, String Orchestra And Percussion)
TABULA RASA: 1. Ludus: Con moto
TABULA RASA: 2. Silentium: Senza moto
Symphony No. 3: 66 - 104 - attacca:
Symphony No. 3: 54-56 - Piu mosso - attacca
Symphony No. 3: 60 (alla breve)

Amazon.com

DG's beautifully packaged and produced 20/21 series here pays homage to Arvo Pärt, presenting a new interpretation of two of his most familiar works--already indisputable classics--Tabula Rasa and Fratres. For all of their "minimalist" technique, there's a fathomless--call it timeless, if you will--beauty to these scores the deeper you plunge into their hypnotic sound world. The best place to discover them remains ECM's breakthrough release Tabula Rasa. Unlike Gidon Kremer (the superb interpreter of that recording), and despite an epiphany he mentions in the booklet--likening this music to the desert landscape of Utah--Gil Shaham doesn't seem to grasp one of the key components of that beauty: its austerity, its distance, as through a glass. There's an exquisite finish to his tone, to be sure, but Shaham essentially overromanticizes this music, coating it with a lovely but undifferentiated sheen, although he does hint at the vocal character of his lines. Passages of Fratres thus sound curiously tamed, as if we could be listening to such pastoral blandishments as The Lark Ascending or, in Tabula Rasa, to a Vivaldi andante. Despite this disappointment, the disc offers a thoroughly compelling account of the Third Symphony (1971) by its dedicatee, Neeme Järvi. It's fascinating to hear Pärt's points of origin--Soviet music, chant from the Orthodox Church, the fascination with bell sounds--so clearly delineated and transmogrified as in this work. Järvi molds its colorful but somber scoring into vividly dramatic shapes, hinting at Shostakovich in the chasm-deep bass lines tugging against the piercing treble or--as in the haunting opening solo--at the bleak majesty of a Sibelius landscape. The very success of Pärt's better-known works has tended to obscure the quality of such earlier pieces, but this performance helps widen the perspective to a more inclusive one. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Stunning... and better with every replay.......2005-09-07

I agree that there is a significant difference between Kremer and Shaham in interpreting the Tabula Rasa- and I'm not going to argue that one is better or worse, although I will definitely stipulate that the dedicatee of the work (Kremer) probably has a better handle on Part's original intentions through direct contact with him. As some people have previously mentioned, Kremer's reading (on ECM) is drier, with an emphasis on the bleakness and austerity that is so much a... well, part of Part.

However, I certainly can see where Shaham feels strong emotions in these pieces- his interpretation is more akin to floating. Yes, they are romanticized- they are strongly romantic pieces in their lonely sound. Don't make the mistake of discounting this performance based on reviews saying that Shaham's interpretation is "emotional". Kremer's interpretation is excellent, but I believe Shaham's is also excellent- albeit in a totally different way... and both are to be enjoyed for their strong points equally.

Jarvi's leadership in the 3rd symphony is very powerful and completes this wonderful disc. In short this is great listening- I find myself coming back to this disc again and again... and it gets better with every replay.

Simply magnificent.......2005-08-06

Arvo Part belongs to this sort of "holy minimalism" genre. His music is filled with lots of repition...BUT IN A GOOD WAY. I particularly enjoy the 3rd movement of Symphony No. 3 with it's beautifully orchestrated chorale section towards the middle. I find Part's music to be fascinating. I find myself listening to it whenever I need inspiration. I would also suggest listening to Gorecki(similar composer)

Part Noir.......2005-04-29

Although I am without the necessary technical expertise to know if Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony "missed it" in these particular performances, I would like to register my feelings about the three works presented in this Deutsche Grammaphon recording with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Jarvi (Part's Estonian countryman and friend):

"Fratres" [9'43] for violin, string orchestra and percussion featuring Gil Shaham (violin soloist) and Roger Carlsson (percussion) is dissonant, abrasive, and austere.
"Tabula Rasa" [23'07] Concerto for two violins, string orchestra and prepared piano (Adele Anthony, Shaham, and Erik Risberg) is bleak and lonely.
"Symphony No. 3" [25'17] (dedicated to Neeme Jarvi) is lighter, more melancholy, and cautiously hopeful.

For me, the music was dark and spiritually vacant--so different from the somber, yet spiritually vibrant and redemptive, "Kanon Pokajanen." The Part minimalism is irresistible, however, and at times exquisite in its austerity and desolation. The paintings of the American artist, Edward Hopper: "Manhattan Bridge Loop" (1928); "Early Sunday Morning" (1930); and "Night Hawks" (1942), all come to mind with their lonely urban emptiness so powerfully depicted. If you are a Hopper fan you may find this disc to be a harmonious complement. I like the CD cover art as an effective visual preview to the musical contents inside.

Two pieces in poor performance, but a fine 3rd Symphony.......2004-12-06

This disc in Deutsche Grammaphon's "20/21" series of recordings of contemporary music displays three works of Arvo Part performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Jarvi, with a spotlight on violinist Gil Shaham. Part is best known for his minimalistic and Renaissance-inspired "tintinnabuli" style of the 1970s and 1980s, and two of the works here are in that vein, while his 3rd Symphony is a transitional work joining an early interest in serialism with his mature style.

"Fratres" is a piece with numerous--at least 8--variant arrangements. On this disc it is represented first in a 1992 version for violin, percussion, and string orchestra. This is certainly one of the more passionate arrangements (easily winning out over, for example the sluggish one for 12 cellos), and Gil Sharam performs unobjectionable, though Part's music of this period eschews virtuosity and is difficult to do badly on.

"Tabula Rasa" (1977) for two violins, prepared piano, and string orchestra is probably the most instantly likeable piece on this disc. It is divided into two parts, and the first, "Ludus" is an intricate dance marked as to be performed "with movement", and here the two violins repeat the same theme over and over while true development is handled under the surface by a string orchestra. It is followed by "Silentium" ("Silence"), the meditative flip-side to be performed with as little movement as possible. Sharam is joined here by former classmate Adele Anthony. This was the first recording I heard of the piece, and I marvelled at the beauty of Part's composition, I later came to find that it does not hold up very well against other performances. Shaham says in the notes that he understands the piece is about loneliness and barrenness, but his performance is like sugar-sweet Romanticism. Furthermore, Jarvi drives it too quickly and on this recording the prepared piano (played by Erik Risberg), such an important part of the piece, is often hardly audible here. The performance on the TABULA RASA disc on ECM by Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko (violins) and Alfred Schnittke (prepared piano) can be seen as definitive and it is that performance which should be sought out by anyone curious about "Tabula Rasa".

"Symphony No. 3" (1971) is generally seen to be a transitional work falling between serialism and minimalism. I perceive it to be more akin to his early works, and the connection to pieces like "Collage Uber B-A-C-H" is, I should think, quite apparent. The bell sounds, however, are a clear foreshadowing of his later style. This symphony was dedicated to Neeme Jarvi and this performance conducted by the dedicatee is really something nice, certainly better than the inconsistent performance on Naxos by the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa. This disc is the best place to hear the 3rd Symphony, though I'd recommend hearing Part's works of the 1990s before going back to a much earlier composition like this.

Part is generally seen as a religious composer--most of his output is religiously titled--and the liner notes here make much of the supposed deep sprituality of his work. However, I have always felt that music which so fuzzily nebulously speaks of religion has little efficacy. I prefer the work of Sofia Gubaidulina or Oliver Messiaen, whose strict music always asserts a concrete orthodoxy and leaves no room for differing opinions. This is one reason while I cannot rate the disc so highly as others, for in spite of its technical brilliance, this work is spiritually dead. In the mid-1990's Part began to compose works like "Litany" soundly based on his Eastern Orthodox faith, and this style ultimately culminated with his setting of the massive Kanon Pokajanen penitence text. I would recommend those to fans of Christian work in modern-classical music.

If you are interested in the work of Arvo Part, this pieces on this work may be a good place to start, even if they are religiously hollow and in a style perhaps historically superseded. Still, you'd want to seek out better performances of "Tabula Rasa" and "Fratres", such as the TABULA RASA disc on ECM. However, an even better introduction to Part, with music that has a better chance of standing the test of time, might be his KANON POKAJANEN.

Definitive recording? Try again.........2004-01-10

I bought this CD primarily for Tabula Rasa and found myself disappointed in this recording. Gil Shaham (Violin soloist) in the CD notes quotes "The first time I really heard his (Part's) music was when I was driving through the desert in Utah. Tabula rasa was being played on the radio. There in the middle of the desert, his music suddenly made sense - I could understand what people were talking about. The slow movement of Tabula rasa has a feeling of vastness and I sensed a connection between the music and the loneliness of the landscape..." This quote contradicts his musical interpretation on this recording. Perhaps Shaham misinterpreted this piece as being some sort of Violin concerto. The "airy" quality of the piece is completely dissolved in his nagging Vibrato and overpowering tone. As for Adele Anthony (the other Violin soloist), she spent most of the first movement off tempo and in her own little world.. The overall tempo was entirely too fast in both movements, almost cutting Part's intended length of the piece in half. I do not recommend this recording to anyone who wishes to experience a definitive recording of Part's Tabula Rasa. Everything about it is just wrong...

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