Arvo Pärt's asylum.

[chasmaniac]

I'm out of my comfort zone over here, but a neighbourly howdy-do is always in order.

Listened to the Naxos recording of Cantus in Memory last night no less than 3 times. Enjoyed it immensely. But I was very struck by its similarity to the music of... Vangelis! Not making fun of either: I was much taken decades ago by V's Opera Sauvage and Chariots of Fire and all that. Anyone else hear what I do?

[CRCulver]

I found this passage from Peter J. Schmelz's Such Freedom if only Musical: Unofficial Soviet Music During the Thaw interesting. Schmelz recounts arranging interviews with various figures, and how he was completely unable to meet with Pärt:

His spokesman informed me that 'The period of the Soviet Union is a completely closed chapter for him and he is not prepared to evoke this era again,' betraying the clearest sense of non or even anti-nostalgia that I encountered, a refusal to even acknowledge let alone discuss his memories.

I guess I should feel grateful that Pärt still allows performances of the pieces he wrote in the 1960s (many of which are IMHO better than what he's writing now).

[Lethevich]

Yip, there's some really good stuff from early in his career, although the first two symphonies I found not particularly interesting - are they worth revisiting?

[Mirror Image]

Yip, there's some really good stuff from early in his career, although the first two symphonies I found not particularly interesting - are they worth revisiting?

I would say no, but this is because I'm not a fan of Part's earlier style. The only symphony I found worth my time from his pen is the third. The fourth (Los Angeles) was disappointing. I think it's fair for me to say that Part has run out of ideas or simply needs to change styles.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I found this passage from Peter J. Schmelz's Such Freedom if only Musical: Unofficial Soviet Music During the Thaw interesting.

BTW Culver, thanks for the rec/review of that book. Looks up my alley.

[Lethevich]

Another post because it's quite hard to get discussion on Pärt's early music. I rate the following highly:

Nekrolog (a slab of go-for-the-throat expressive rumblings - immature but accessable), Collage on B-A-C-H, Pro et Contra (these two are a real high point, colourful and fun), Credo (a bit garish, but good!).

Sarah Was Ninety Years Old, despite being a later work, seems like a throwback to this period - not in style but in its misfit status.

Does anyone have any opinion on Our Garden and Perpetuum mobile?

[Mirror Image]

Looks like another Part ECM recording will be released:

[asin]B008U0FI7M[/asin]

I'll definitely be buying this one. I didn't even know it was coming out until I searched Part ECM recordings on Amazon.

[snyprrr]

Ah, someone save me from the Baltic Horde! Arvo Part and the 'Festina Lente' to the rescue. Ahhh,... whew, it was getting rough there for a while.

I've enjoyed the wallowing pieces, but haven't been able to crack the vocal stuff. Don't think I liked 'Passio',... the 'Miserere', eh, I had to wait all that time for that big moment,... the thing with the 'J' and the 'P' in the title, I don't recall falling over for.

I used to have that Jarvi/Chandos disc, and did not like his earlier stuff; like Silvestrov's early stuff but not the obverse/inverse?...

What are the go=to Part pieces... BESIIIDES 'Festina Lente', '...Benjamin Britten', 'Summa', or 'Fratres',... or the 'Siloan's Song'...

[snyprrr]

I did a little rooting around last night and did find some Part I liked:

De Profundis

Salve Regina
Beatus Patronus(?)

Magnificat
The Beatitudes

Te Deum (the longest piece on this list)

Da Pacem Nomine
Nunc Dimittis
Dopo in vittoria

Wassern zu Babel
Littlemore Tracts

... and then some smaller...

Woman...Alabaster
I Am the True Vine

7 Magn. Antiphons
Missa syllab.




All the available cds seem a bit spread out. What do you think is the go-to disc for these pieces?

[snyprrr]

How do you feel about Part TODAY, in 2014, as opposed to when he became a Hit  back in the... '90s? Right? (oy- brain cells...bzzt....bzzzzzt...bzzzt)

I thought I needed him, but when I walk outside- or shower- or think deeply- I feel like I'm getting that "Part feeling" without the need of the music. So?...

I mean, when I get in THAT MOOD, am I going to go for Part, or Finzi?

I'd rather just have 'Festina Lente' go on for a couple of hours! Wish Feldman would have wroteTHAT!

[Mirror Image]

How do you feel about Part TODAY, in 2014, as opposed to when he became a Hit  back in the... '90s? Right? (oy- brain cells...bzzt....bzzzzzt...bzzzt)

I thought I needed him, but when I walk outside- or shower- or think deeply- I feel like I'm getting that "Part feeling" without the need of the music. So?...

I mean, when I get in THAT MOOD, am I going to go for Part, or Finzi?

I'd rather just have 'Festina Lente' go on for a couple of hours! Wish Feldman would have wroteTHAT!

A three year old post, but I'll respond anyway. I feel Pärt is still an effective composer and what I mean by that is his music still resonates and touches me. This is no easy feat as I've heard all of the important pieces during his career, especially that important period in the late 70s when you had a string of works like Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten, Fratres, Tabula Rasa, Stabat Mater, Spiegel im Spiegel, among others which I've heard dozens upon dozens of times and I still hear something new in them with each listen. I don't rate some of his later works as highly as his earlier ones (mainly the ones from the late 70s up until the early 90s), but that's not to degrade these works of course, but to indicate that I believe his best work is behind him now, although I do really like all of the works on the In Principio album even though it didn't really break any new ground for the composer.

[CRCulver]

I believe his best work is behind him now

I recently listened to my entire Arvo Pärt collection over a few weeks; I own recordings of all acknowledged pieces by the composer. It's interesting that one can trace some stylistic evolution in the tintinnabuli years, from the comparatively austere pieces of the late 1970s and 1980s, through the more sumptuous works of the 1990s, and then a few years of remarkably tortured, restless works (Lamentate, Como una cierva sedienta, etc.).

But since the early millennium, Pärt does seem to have churned out work after work with no real surprises, a pace apparently helped by the technique he developed of letting the text determine all rhythms and form (yet he doesn't get attacked as a cerebral serialist, go figure). For the composer, fulfilling a commission for a general public that wants a-new-cut-from-the-same-old-cloth must count as a success, and he no longer feels a need to explore new ground. But for this listener, it does mean that most new Pärt recordings are rather disappointing.

[San Antone]

Cross posted from the WAYLT thread

Listening again to Part: Kanon Pokajanen





Amazon reviewer jt52 sums up why this recording is preferable to the recent one by Capella Amsterdam/Daniel Reuss:

Kaljuste
Rich sounding male voices
Takes its time, with very comfortably-paced pauses between the slow-moving phrases
Reverberant acoustic
This reverberance doesn't just make the sound more attractive, it makes the singing more musical, as the phrases taper off instead of ending abruptly
Recording isn't up to ECM's usual high standards but is pretty good

Reuss
More treble-heavy
De-emphasized bass
Recorded sound is slightly thinner, with less texture
A bit faster and more important than the overall tempo there is a more mechanical timing of pauses in between phrases
Dryer, less reverbrant overall sound

But what is truly a shame is that Ruess made significant cuts in the work in order to fit it onto a single CD.  He left out entirely odes 5 and 7, and made cuts in the ones he did include. 

I consider this work to be Part's masterpiece, and it has been recorded three times.  But the ECM, the first from 1998, is far and away the best.

[Papy Oli]

I consider this work to be Part's masterpiece, and it has been recorded three times.  But the ECM, the first from 1998, is far and away the best.

This ECM Kanon Pokajanen is one of my desert island discs. I sampled parts of the 2 more recent versions a few weeks back, considering another entry (including some live extracts on youtube), I agree there's definitely a loss of impact compared to the ECM version. Some of that might also be due to a first recording bias as well, possibly.