Arbo Pärt: Arbos

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This release is dedicated to the Russian filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky, who died not long before the recording was published in 1987. In fact, it might not be too much of a stretch to compare the majestic, epiphanic quality of Part's devotional compositions to Tarkovsky's slow, stately piece about the Russian icon painter, Andrei Rublev. In both cases, there's a sense of spirituality evoked through small gestures. For example, 'An Den Wassern Zu Babel', composed for four voices and organ, is a thing of great melancholy and simplicity that has an understated aura of mysticism that incrementally escalates over its six and a half minute duration. Elsewhere, the piece from which the disc derives its title is a grandiose metallic-sounding affair, constituted from brass, bells and gongs. Its structure resembles a kind of ominous fanfare that repeats itself continually - the effect is pretty dizzying. The main work here is 'Stabat Mater', a twenty-four minute composition for a vocal trio and violin, viola and cello that's right up there with the best of Part's religious music. Immensely powerful stuff.

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Tracks:

1. Arbos
2. An den Wassern zu Babel
3. Pari Intervallo
4. De Profundis
5. Es sang vor langen Jahren
6. Summa
7. Arbos
8. Stabat Mater

The Hilliard Ensemble
David James countertenor
Rogers Covey-Crump tenor
John Potter tenor
Gordon Jones baritone
Christopher Bowers-Broadbent organ
Gidon Kremer violin
Vladimir Mendelssohn viola
Thomas Demenga cello

Brass Ensemble Staatsorchester Stuttgart
Dennis Russell Davies conductor