Arvo Pärt's asylum.

[Lethevich]

Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka is the one I meant. Not on the Arbos CD - I should have been clearer. Its about 3 and half minutes.

Pari Intervalo is for organ is it not? Its actually very very similar to the piano Variations.

Thanks for the clarification I rate the variations very highly, although do wish they were longer (my disc is with Ustvolskaya and Gorecki - two composers I have less interest in, bah) as their brevity and simplicity do work against them for being considered a significant area of his output.

I dunno why, but the majority of Pärt's organ music that I've heard (I believe on a CD called Tintinnabulum which I borrowed a while ago) didn't make an impact at all. Strange considering he's a church music composer, although the organ is a pretty daunting instrument to listen to, so much of the sound or impact can be changed with different recording techniques or different sounding instruments...

[lukeottevanger]

I have a disc on New Albion by Christoph Moosmann, which couple all the Part organ works (at the time of recording) with pieces by Cage and Scelsi. An interesting disc.

Pari Intervallo ...
Annum per annum ...
Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentaler...
Trivium...
But I need to return to this disc and reassess. Tonight's bedtime listening, I think....

Well, I did listen again. Sad to say that my memory of Mein Weg... had let me down; it wasn't the piece I was thinking of, and though it's in Part's purest line, I don't find it among his most attractive pieces. Pari Intervallo remains the one of the four that works best, to my mind.

Edit - oops, that was supposed to be a new post, replying to the quoted one of my own... Still, you get  the idea

[Guido]

The thing about the piano variations is that I dont think they're meant to be about the same religious depths as the other works. They're called Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka  (literally Variations for Arinuschka's Convalescence) - each variations grows in stature from the last one, tiny waves, always recuperating to new strengths. Like the 12 version of fratres (which moves from very high to the richest range of the cello - mysterious and unsure to sonorous and life affirming), or in Spiegel im Spiegel (where each scale adds another note, another expressive step) they grow almost imperceptively, but I think considering it doesn't pretend to be a major work, it works perfectly - I would love to have something written like that for me if I was ill!

[not edward]

I have a disc on New Albion by Christoph Moosmann, which couple all the Part organ works (at the time of recording) with pieces by Cage and Scelsi. An interesting disc.

Don't miss out on the Scelsi In Nomine Lucis while listening. I adore that piece, for reasons I don't understand.

I've recently listened to the Hilliards in Passio, having waited for it to show up cheap and second hand. It's certainly the Part I like, though I don't find it has the intensity of Stabat mater. Must listen more, though I'm having trouble putting together 70 minutes without a break these days.

[lukeottevanger]

Don't miss out on the Scelsi In Nomine Lucis while listening. I adore that piece, for reasons I don't understand.

It's an awesome piece; I get slightly confused by it though: on this disc it is one piece, In nomine lucis, lasting about 11 minutes; I have another all-Scelsi disc which includes two pieces, In nomine lucis I and In nomine lucis V each of which is about half the duration of the piece on the Moosmann (and in fact, though the liner notes are unclear, they seem to be different versions of the same piece, the first rendered  chromatically, the second quarter-tonally). But if the Moosmann recording is just the other two pieces conflated - and I'm not sure if it is, though it's hard to tell in music dominated by drones as this is - what happened to In nomine lucis #2-4?  More detailed listening required if I'm to discover the answer...

I've recently listened to the Hilliards in Passio, having waited for it to show up cheap and second hand. It's certainly the Part I like, though I don't find it has the intensity of Stabat mater. Must listen more, though I'm having trouble putting together 70 minutes without a break these days.

I find the unremitting tone and texture of Passio, coupled with its awesome and audible logic, combine to make it about the most intense and extended listening experience in Part's music - quite an achievement . The sort that one can't listen to very often, I think. To my mind, the Hilliards are, once again, the perfect ensemble for this music. And I always gasp in wonder at the perfection of the instrumental playing on that CD - the parts are so simple, but so exposed: any tiny deviation from accuracy would be cruelly exposed, and there would seem to be no excuse for it.

[not edward]

It's an awesome piece; I get slightly confused by it though: on this disc it is one piece, In nomine lucis, lasting about 11 minutes; I have another all-Scelsi disc which includes two pieces, In nomine lucis I and In nomine lucis V each of which is about half the duration of the piece on the Moosmann (and in fact, though the liner notes are unclear, they seem to be different versions of the same piece, the first rendered  chromatically, the second quarter-tonally). But if the Moosmann recording is just the other two pieces conflated - and I'm not sure if it is, though it's hard to tell in music dominated by drones as this is - what happened to In nomine lucis #2-4?  More detailed listening required if I'm to discover the answer...

I think there's only I and V, which--from what I've heard--do seem to be different realizations of the same material. Friedemann Herz's organ recital on Koch also seems to conflate them into one pieces.

Confusingly, the Fondazione Isabella Scelsi's website merely describes the piece as for organ, in memory of Franco Evangelisti, and about 8 minutes long. No mention of I and V.

[Lethevich]

I think there's only I and V, which--from what I've heard--do seem to be different realizations of the same material. Friedemann Herz's organ recital on Koch also seems to conflate them into one pieces.

Confusingly, the Fondazione Isabella Scelsi's website merely describes the piece as for organ, in memory of Franco Evangelisti, and about 8 minutes long. No mention of I and V.

I notice Wikipedia lists it here, mentioning: "In Nomine Lucis (2 pieces; for electric organ) - 1974". If it helps, that seems to imply they are two movements, although that doesn't explain the confusing designations of each of them.

[lukeottevanger]

Thank you both - that helps...sort of!

[The Emperor]

Well i seem to be the Part fanatic here, love almost everything he touches

Anyways here is a cool video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9pdLRs0h6VQ&mode=related&search=

He even explains fur elina in the piano, amazing footage! i wish i could meet the man!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MZTGYxVGzQg&mode=related&search=
Silouans Song, i worship this piece.

Discuss!

[lukeottevanger]

Thanks for starting this - here is a previous Part thread which I was enjoying participating in. You'll be pleased to see that you are far from the only 'Part fanatic here'! 

[The Emperor]

Oh i see i'm not alone, good read.

One thing i've picked up, well most people i know wouldn't find Part acessible but i think, quite boring, but he is indeed popular, so at least there's people with good taste outhere 

[bhodges]

And yet another big fan of Pärt here.  The first work I ever heard was Tabula Rasa, back in the 1980s at the New York Philharmonic, and I can't say that I really liked it, but it made a strong impression.  (Sometimes good to be skeptical of first hearings.)  But then I heard Fratres (the version with the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic) and that was the turning point.  (I've probably heard Fratres enough for awhile, but only because it seems to be programmed over and over in its various incarnations, i.e., for cellos, for violin and piano, violin and string orchestra, etc.)

Then I heard the Hilliard Ensemble, live, in Passio, which has a very stark palette, but can also be very mesmerizing if you're in the mood.  Shortly after that I bought their recording, and then many of the ECM recordings that began coming out.  The one I keep coming back to is this one, conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste, with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.  I especially like the Te Deum (1984-85). 



One more favorite: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977) for string orchestra and bell (yes, just one!), which I got to hear live as well, with Riccardo Chailly and the New York Philharmonic about two years ago.  Lovely.

--Bruce

[The Emperor]

Wow seing those pieces live must be awesome... I WISH!

[bhodges]

I had forgotten that you are in...Portugal!  No Arvo Pärt performed there?  I would think some of his works would be very popular, especially some of the smaller things like Summa or Spiegel Im Spiegel.

--Bruce

[The Emperor]

I had forgotten that you are in...Portugal!  No Arvo Pärt performed there?  I would think some of his works would be very popular, especially some of the smaller things like Summa or Spiegel Im Spiegel.

--Bruce

It's possible some of his pieces have been performed, i just don't know... i just started attending concerts latelly too( classical ones of course), so that might have something to do with it.

[knight66]

'Spiegel Im Spiegel' is a great favourite of mine. It seems to me to be like a meditation. Every phrase is longer than the one preceding it. The piece really takes me to another place.

I have most of the pieces mentioned, but have never been to hear any of his work live. Passio was the first piece of his that I heard, I have not listened for some time, must get it off the shelf.

Mike

[Maciek]

Wouldn't it be a good idea to merge the two Pärt topics (into a one-Pärt topic)? Just a thought, no obligation - for the thread originator to decide. 0:)

[The Emperor]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2QTxvmlA95Q&mode=related&search=
A little interview with Pärt, made by Björk. She's so cool to expose artist like Pärt, and in her music, i can see the influence there actually.

[beclemund]

I can honestly say that Fratres was almost singularly responsible for my exploration of contemporary music. It is so engaging on so many levels yet seems so simple; I wish I had taken up violin and/or piano as a child.

The quality of performances on every Pärt CD I own is almost universally excellent too; granted my collection of his work is less than 10 CDs in number, but.... That definitely makes the exploration of his oeuvre quite worthwhile.

[The Emperor]

That's the beauty of Pärt's music, so simple yet so effective.