Arvo Part: Pro & Contra / Symphonies 1 + 2
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Fans of Arvo Part's gorgeous brand of minimalism--all soft, neo-medieval and tintinablular--will be enormously surprised by this program. The six pieces were composed before his re-examination and re-emergence in 1976, after a five-year period of silence. They are what one thinks of when one thinks of a certain variety of fascinating, if noisy and vaguely unpleasant "modern" music, the type of work one expects to hear led by Pierre Boulez. In other words, we are dealing here with atonality, experimentalism, and serialism. There are huge sonic clusters designed to upset, and statements about music are made by the music itself. The opening piece, Pro & Contra, essentially a concerto for cello, begins with a lovely D major chord which is immediately followed by a huge crash of dissonance; it is shocking and it ismeant to be. The Second Symphony features the sounds of kid's squeaky toys. The brief piece from Part's student period, "Meie aed," is for girl's choir and is entirely gentle and tonal--a grand piece of Soviet goodness. "Perpetuum Mobile" is a seven-minute crescendo which can knock you off your seat. The playing and singing, under Paavo Jarvi, are spectacular. In brief, this is not the Part you've come to know and love, but it's fascinating to hear what he was like before he became who he was. --Robert Levine
Arvo Part: Pro & Contra / Symphonies 1 + 2, Music, Truls Mørk, Arvo Part, Paavo Järvi, Kalev Kuljus, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Leibur, 20th/21st Century Orchestral Work with Descriptive Title, 20th/21st Century Symph. with Mult. Solo Voice & Chorus, Cello Concerto, Chamber, Choral, Choral Music, Classical, Classical Composers, Concerto, Oboe Solo/Sonata, Orchestral, Orchestral & Symphonic, Symphonic
Average customer rating:
- Not the best performances, but still a pretty good collection
- A Written and Sound Portrait of One of Our Most Important Composers
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Arvo Pärt: A Portrait
Manufacturer: Naxos
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Similar Items:
- Arvo Pärt - A Tribute
- Lamentate
- Alina - Arvo Part
- Arvo Pärt: Passio
- Arvo Part: 24 Preludes for a Fugue
ASIN: B00093O6OY
Release Date: 2005-06-21 |
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
Average customer rating:
- Heavenly lullaby
- If you're looking for minimalism...
- Impecable recording quality...a recording artists dream.
- Brilliant performance, good sound
- They can sing this in Heaven
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I Am The True Vine: Arvo Part
Paul Hillier , Theatre of Voices , and Pro Arte Singers
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
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- Arvo Pärt: De Profundis
- Orient & Occident
- Alina - Arvo Part
- Miserere
- Arvo Part: Te Deum / Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
ASIN: B00003Z9U9
Release Date: 2000-03-14 |
Tracks:
- Bogoroditse Djevo
- I Am The True Vine
- Ode IX, from Kanon pokajanen
- Woman With the Alabaster Box, The
- Tribute To Caesar
- BERLINER MESSE with Christopher Bowers-Broadbent organ/Kyrie
- BERLINER MESSE/Gloria
- BERLINER MESSE/Erster Alleluiavers
- BERLINER MESSE/Zweiter Alleluiavers
- BERLINER MESSE/Veni Sancte Spiritus
- BERLINER MESSE/Credo
- BERLINER MESSE/Sanctus
- BERLINER MESSE/Angus dei
Amazon.com
Contemporary troubador Paul Hillier has been one of the key players behind introducing Arvo Pärt's music to Western audiences, first through recordings with the Hilliard Ensemble and later through his magnificently innovative group Theatre of Voices. I Am the True Vine continues the collaboration by bringing together some truly vintage Pärt compositions from the '90s. Although it exists on disc in a more elaborate version for choir and strings, the 1990 Berlin Mass was originally written for just four solo voices and organ. Pärt later revised the score, returning to that original sonority, which is the version offered here. The consummate preparation of the Theatre of Voices, in which every line is lovingly unfurled, the whole building into a memorable aural sculpture, only heightens a listener's admiration for Pärt's ability to make the seemingly simple profound. We also hear the composer in a more overtly joyful mood than usual in the short first selection, while the title track--a setting of a text from the Gospel of John and one of three world premiere recordings here--is a marvelously organic example of word painting (representing Pärt's choral virtuosity even when it comes to setting English text). --Thomas May
Customer Reviews:
Heavenly lullaby.......2006-08-20
This is the CD on my bedroom CD player that I listen to to "center" myself before going to sleep. It's actually a little intense for lullaby music, stimulating in a profoundly relaxing way.This is the first CD I would take to my desert island.
If you're looking for minimalism..........2003-04-03
I must have been under the false impression that ALL of Arvo Part's work since 1976 (around the time Fur Alina was written) was in the minimalist vein. Well, this recording is certainly not minimalist in any way, shape, or form.
If you are looking for this type of recording, I would recommend you try Part's instrumental works (apart from those written before '76).
This disc sounds more like neo-rennaisance madrigals and motets. If you are looking for a modern composer doing this type of work, look no further. However, if you are expecting another Fur Alina you will be greatly disappointed.
Impecable recording quality...a recording artists dream........2001-01-06
The best choral recording on the market period. So great in fact that I use this CD to test mid-range imagining on high end speakers. The tones are so pure....that you'll agree this is the CD you spent over 600. a speaker for, bar none.
Brilliant performance, good sound.......2000-09-14
The CD "I am the true vine" with works by Arvo Part is my first more thorough encounter with this composer. The sound of his music - even in the more modern parts - is always very pleasing and somewhat "easy" to listen to. In how far, however, is Part's music conveying more than just the full, well set choral sound? In my opinion, Arvo Part delivers a general feeling about the text, but it takes some time to get acquainted to the unusual style where voices join and drop out of the setting during single words, and in some cases, the emphases in the rhythm of the music do not fit the pronounciation needed in the text (that's why there are only 4 stars).
The CD presents various works, from the "Berliner Messe" - a rather advanced arrangement - via some biblical themes in English to nearly folk-style slavic tunes. This variety makes this CD probably a good start for people like me who want to know more about Part's work. The recording is nearly flawless, and the ensembles directed by Paul Hillier do a very good job.
They can sing this in Heaven.......2000-08-24
This disc is my first introduction to Arvo Part, and I was awestruck. This mystical work sounds like chant but informed by a millenium of musical advancement. I won't venture an opinion for people who aren't Christian (though I daresay they'd appreciate the music), but personally the communion of saints can sing this in Heaven. The title track alone brought me to tears. The singers are excellent and courageous and the encoding quality of the disc seems flawless. Incidentally, it's amazing Part could make such a startling and moving modern Mass setting and still make it singable for everyday liturgical use.
Average customer rating:
- Fabulous CD
- Splendid singing, nice programming
- Exquisite. Simply Marvelous.
- Sublime CD
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Alnight by the Rose
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Similar Items:
- Frank Ferko: Motets
- Morten Lauridsen: Lux aeterna
- Morten Lauridsen: Nocturnes
- Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy
- Lauridsen: The Complete Choral Cycles
ASIN: B00005AFVN
Release Date: 2001-02-10 |
Tracks:
- Ave regina caelorum (Guillame Dufay)
- Gedeonis area (13th-century French conductus)
- O cruor sanguinis (Hildegard von Bingen)
- O successores (Hildegard von Bingen)
- Nunc gaudeant (Hildegard von Bingen)
- O verbum Patris (Frank Ferko, tracts 6-8)
- O splendidissima gemma
- Laus Trinitati
- Magnificat (Arvo P)
- To Mistress Margaret Hussey (Karen P. Thomas, tracks 10-13)
- Alnight by the Rose
- Dolcissima mia vita (Don Carlo Gesualdo)
- Si, ch'io vorrei morire (Claudio Monteverdi)
- Ov'e, lass', il bel viso? (Morten Lauridsen, tracks 14-19)
- Quando son piu lontan
- Amor, io sento l'alma
- Io piango
- Luci serene e chiare
- Se per havervi, oime
Album Description
Recorded in the reverberant acoustic of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, Alnight by the Rose features a compelling collection of a cappella choral music on the theme of love - the fire of divine love and the flame of earthly passion.
Exciting new contemporary choral works are paired with works by the Medieval and Renaissance composers who served as an inspiration to their modern counterparts. Morten Lauridsen's stunning Madrigali: Six Firesongs on Italian Renaissance Poetry is the featured choral song cycle on the CD. These are paired with pieces by Italian Renaissance composers Claudio Monteverdi and Carlo Gesualdo - Lauridsen considers his Madrigali to be an homage to the works of these two composers. The Women's Schola of Seattle Pro Musica sing the repertoire which has become their specialty - music by the 12th-century abbess and composer Hildegard von Bingen - and the full choir performs new works by Chicago composer Frank Ferko that are based on and inspired by Hildegard's poetry. Also on the CD are Arvo Pärt's beautiful Magnificat and Karen P. Thomas' Medieval Lyrics, the latter written especially for Seattle Pro Musica.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous CD.......2002-08-28
From the purity of Hildegard von Bingen to the passionate "Fire Songs" by Morten Lauridsen, this CD has rapidly become my favorite. Starting with early music from the 12th century sung with great purity of tone by 9 women's voices, the CD then moves to Frank Ferko's "Hildegard Motets" for mixed choir and Arvo Part's "Magnificat". This piece is sung with incredible tenderness and delicacy...just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.
The second half of the CD features complicated madrigals by Gesualdo and Monteverdi sung effortlessly by Seattle Pro Musica. The CD ends with Morten Lauridsen's 6 "Fire Songs" based on Renaissance poems. The harmonies are exquisite and are sung with great depth and feeling. A friend who is a choral director also loves this CD and sent me a review from Choir and Organ Magazine which rated this CD as outstanding and said "Seattle Pro Musica presents a cappella singing at its best".
Buy this CD!
Splendid singing, nice programming.......2002-08-13
Karen P. Thomas and Seattle Pro Musica have recently given the choral world a CD with exquisite performances and good programming of a variety of Renaissance and Neo-Renaissance music. The most impressive aspect about this CD is the incredible tone quality with which the music was performed. Lauridsen's "Madrigali" are daunting but beautiful pieces that can easily be "hacked at" and "splattered." Not so here. The singing is nearly flawless and makes for wonderful listening enjoyment.
Exquisite. Simply Marvelous........2001-03-15
Karen P. Thomas has certainly produced one of the finest CD's that I've ever heard from a choir - amateur or professional. Her picks for the programme were stellar: everything flows nicely together. The choir's blend and timbre left me breathless. I really hope to hear them live in the St. James one day. If you're within 100 miles, go hear a concert!
Sublime CD.......2001-03-10
From the ethereal sounds of the opening women's pieces to the lush interweaving of tones in the ending pieces, this choral CD is a rich and rewarding experience. Ferko's works put the listener at the feet of Hildegard von Bingen. Lauridsen's Fire Madrigals are passionate and sensuous. And these pieces are performed with mastery and keen interpretive skills by Seattle Pro Musica under the direction of Karen Thomas. The acoustics of the recording are appropriately monastic, with a feeling of roundness of tone. The choir demonstrates an ability to float the sound and yet maintains pitch and balance throughout with a pure and clean sound. The result is one of the best recordings of choral music I have ever heard.
Average customer rating:
- A Poet's Journey
- Worth it for the Second Symphony alone
- Early Arvo...different, but good.
- This CD will shock fans who only know his later work!
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Arvo Pärt: Cello Concerto "Pro et Contra"; Perpetuum Mobile; Symphonies Nos. 1-3
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- Arvo Pärt: De Profundis
- Alina - Arvo Part
- Tabula Rasa
- Litany
- Part: Summa
ASIN: B0000016F8
Release Date: 1992-09-05 |
Tracks:
- I. Maestoso - Frans Helmerson
- II. Largo - Frans Helmerson
- Allegro - Frans Helmerson
- Perpetuum Mobile
- I. Canons
- II. Prelude And Fugue - Walter Forchert
- First Movement
- Second Movement
- Third Movement
- First Movement
- Second Movement
- Third Movement
Amazon.com
The symphonies of Arvo Pärt will surprise anyone familiar with his contemplative, mature style. Pärt began life as a member of the Eastern European modern school, not so far removed from contemporaries such as Penderecki and Górecki. His three symphonies show his gradual renunciation of the more radical aspects of his musical syntax, a return to emotional directness, and the beginnings of that otherworldly quality that has become the outstanding feature of his later work. Not all listeners have traveled the path with him, some finding his recent music tedious and pretentious rather than spiritual, and these three relatively early symphonies really do add a welcome depth and roundness of profile to a composer who can all too easily seem one-dimensional. It's important to keep in mind that, unlike so many members of today's pseudospiritual school of composers (England's John Tavener being the prime example), Pärt is a real composer operating even in the most mystical musings. Järvi deserves real credit for calling attention to this fact in such a powerful way. --David Hurwitz
Customer Reviews:
A Poet's Journey.......2005-02-24
Arvo Part seems to have bifurcated the music world into those that dismiss him as a perjurer and those who look beyond occasional lapses in technique to find the spiritualist to come. This CD, finely performed by Neemi Jarvi and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, places a lot on the table for digesting. The earlier works, while tough and dissonant - especially the Cello Concerto 'Pro et contra' - explores the atonal and aural spectrum of sound (and tolerance!) yet it is among the more unique of the works. Survey the Symphonies 1, 2, and 3 is a wise programming choice. By the time we are in the final movement of the Symphony #2 we are back on terra firma with Brucknerian glows and the Symphony #3 is more in tune with Part's works that speak to the spirit. It is here in this 1971 work that we hear all the inceptions of the mystery of his later works, such as the perfect MISERERE of 1989/90.
This is a fine introductory sampler of the beginnings of a composer's genre that has matured well. Grady Harp, February 2005
Worth it for the Second Symphony alone.......2003-08-12
I'm still getting acquainted with the music on this CD, but I've been particularly struck by the Second and Third Symphonies. The Second is quite amazing. The first two movements are highly atonal, and the third, beginning with a insistent ostinato drum against some haunting tonal figures from the rest of the orchestra, leads to an intense development, with increasing atonality and tone clusters, towards a climax out of which flows a peaceful setting of music of Tchaikovsky, but with a last brief episode of agony before the peaceful and tonal conclusion. The idea of appending Tchaikovsky reminds me of Berg's Violin Concerto, which is explicitly about the struggle of dying and the final peace that follows--if there is a program to the Second Symphony, it may be similar to the Berg. The Third Symphony could hardly be more different, and the only reason I'm not surprised to have never heard it anywhere is the seemingly increased aversion to 20th century classical music everywhere. It's amazing that Part would change his compositional style so quickly. I don't know the piece well yet, but it is quite tonal and very attractive, yet not at all like the Berliner Messe or Part's other more recent and better known music.
Early Arvo...different, but good........2000-12-24
For those of you out there only familiar with Arvo Part's latter works (those in his self-proclaimed "tintinabuli" style) you will probably be shocked by this CD. The disc contains pieces written between 1963 and 1971, and they are really different from the works he is famous for (not to say that they are necessarily worse, just different.) The earliest piece "Perpetuum Mobile" hits like a sonic tidal wave. It begins brewing low and slow until it gathers so much momentum and force that by the end you literally get hit like a wave. It can be overwhelming and exhausing (especially if you are expecting "typical" Arvo Part.) Also included on this CD is his "Cello Concerto" titled "Pro et Contra." This 8 & 1/2 minute piece runs the gamut of sounds. It is almost like a highlight reel of classical music since Bach. There is a lot of neo-Baroque music here (or simply music written in the Baroque style), but that is right alongside some of the most atonal serialist music ever put on paper. There are times when the cello is slapped, or when the bow is popped against the body. It is pretty wild stuff, but it is actually very good...very original. I've heard tons of that kind of stuff, but Part is good at doing it and making it actually sound like music.
Next are the symphonies: Symphony no. 1 (1964) is two movements, 16 minutes long and powerful. (Powerful is a theme that runs throughout these works.) To me, Part has always been masterful in his use of percussion (like in "Sarah Was Ninety Years Old" for example.) His use of tympani in this piece is amazing.
Symphony no. 2 is one of the more bizarre pieces I've ever heard (and probably the least memorable work on the album.) One thing that makes it memorable though is the atonal pizzicato and the use of children's squeak toys to begin the piece. It is a good work, but definately not the first thing you would want to let someone hear if you were trying to turn them on to Part's music. There is some piercing flute in this one as well.
Symphony no. 3 is the first indication of Part's genius in my opinion. Most people point to "Tabula Rasa" as the turning point of his work, and relegate "Symphony no. 3" as a transitional work. This may be the case, but all of the chaos (and bleating horns) are gone in Symphony no. 3. While it may not be as great as "Tabula Rasa" I think it certainly is a landmark work. Even from the first few bars, the work is decidedly more contemplative than his earlier work. The piece is 21 minutes long and gorgeous. The fact that it isn't performed more is criminal (of course, hardly ANY of his work is performed.) I also enjoyed conductor Neeme Jarvi's other reading of this work with the Gothenburg Symphony on Deutsche Grammaphon.
If you are looking for more of Arvo Part's contemplative works, this is not the place to look, but if you want to see some early signposts of genius in a great composer's career, I HIGHLY recommend picking up this disc.
This CD will shock fans who only know his later work!.......2000-03-10
As mentioned in the title line, this CD will truly shock those only familiar with Part's work after the late 1970's. Works like his transitional masterpiece "Tabula Rasa," or others like his "Litany," "Miserere," and "Kanon Pokajanen" are quite different from the pieces contained on this disc. The CD opens with "Pro et Contra" which is an 8 & 1/2 minute long cello concerto of wrenching intensity. It uses collage techniques: fusing neo-baroque techniques with those of serialism to make a potent and jarring piece. Although only 8 & 1/2 minutes in length, it is made extremely powerful by the juxtaposition of those two seemingly different idioms (baroque & serialism.) Its valuable to know that this piece was written 10 years prior to "Tabula Rasa." Another short piece "Perpetuum Mobile" (1963) is an absolute showstopper! It was one of the first pieces Part wrote that won major awards. It can be likened to a train picking up speed or a storm building up momentum. At the end of the 4 minute piece the listener is exhausted, yet simulatneously amazed. Although "savage" by traditional standards, one can see it a sign of the unique genius that was soon to emerge. Symphony no. 1 is a must hear...cacophony at its finest. It screams, groans, howls, and even occasionally flutters and dances. Symphony no. 2 is interesting, but probably the weakest piece on the album (although it is interesting that the first movement incorporates children's squeak toys as an instrument!) Symphony no. 3 is the true foreshadowing of Part's genius. The piece envelops both melancholy and hope in a pensive and beautiful fashion. Part's use of bells in the first movement is stunning and gives the first real glimpes of his celebrated "tintinnabuli" style. This album is an absolute necessity to those wanting to understand Part's current style. The more one listens to these albums, the more one realizes that these pieces have merit on their own and shouldn't be viewed as mere building blocks (as many have wanted to do.) Also, fellow Estonian Neeme Jarvi does an excellent job conducting (by the way the 3rd symphony is dedicated to him.) Pick up this disc, you won't be sorry!
Average customer rating:
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Arvo Part: Pro & Contra / Symphonies 1 + 2
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
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ASIN: B00022GJQU
Release Date: 2004-07-13 |
Amazon.com
Fans of Arvo Part's gorgeous brand of minimalism--all soft, neo-medieval and tintinablular--will be enormously surprised by this program. The six pieces were composed before his re-examination and re-emergence in 1976, after a five-year period of silence. They are what one thinks of when one thinks of a certain variety of fascinating, if noisy and vaguely unpleasant "modern" music, the type of work one expects to hear led by Pierre Boulez. In other words, we are dealing here with atonality, experimentalism, and serialism. There are huge sonic clusters designed to upset, and statements about music are made by the music itself. The opening piece, Pro & Contra, essentially a concerto for cello, begins with a lovely D major chord which is immediately followed by a huge crash of dissonance; it is shocking and it ismeant to be. The Second Symphony features the sounds of kid's squeaky toys. The brief piece from Part's student period, "Meie aed," is for girl's choir and is entirely gentle and tonal--a grand piece of Soviet goodness. "Perpetuum Mobile" is a seven-minute crescendo which can knock you off your seat. The playing and singing, under Paavo Jarvi, are spectacular. In brief, this is not the Part you've come to know and love, but it's fascinating to hear what he was like before he became who he was. --Robert Levine
Product Description
Label(s): Manchester Files
Year of release: 2002
Composer:
Arvo Part
ARVO PART (b. 1935)
Symphony No.1 (Polyphonic) (1964)
1. Kanons
2. Prelude and Fuge
Collage on the Theme B-A-C-H (1964)
3. Toccata
4. Saraband
5. Ricercar
Pro et Contra, concerto for violin cello and orchestra (1966)
6. I. Maestoso. II. Largo. III. Allegro
Tabula Rasa, concerto for rwo violins, prepared piano and string orchestra (1977)
7. Ludus
8. Silentium
Congress-orchestra, conductors: Vladimir Norits (1-6), Paolo Gatto (7, 8)
Total time 62.05
Recorded by Petersburg Recording Studio, 1995
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Peace in Our Time: Music of Peace and War
Manufacturer: Guild
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: B00000FYHR
Release Date: 1998-01-01 |
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