Customer Reviews

I Am The True Vine: Arvo Part

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Paul Hillier, best known for his recordings of early music, brings that sense of urgency and simple piety to the delicate religious music of Arvo Part. This is music which combines gentleness with real force, and the intelligent singing, and capacity to make moments of silence tell as much as grand effects, is entirely admirable. The opening "Hail Mary" reminds us of Baltic folk-choruses and the more elaborate works here--cantatas to English words from the New Testament--like title work, "Tributeto Caesar" and "The Woman with the Alabaster Box"--never entirely leave that style behind for their more austere sound world. The "Berlin Mass" with organ is a powerful devotional work which combines sheer beauty of sound with liturgical practicalities. In all of this work, most of it recent, Part reveals himself as a great master of acapella choral writing

This is the CD I would choose to introduce the music of Arvo Part to a new listener. Why? Because it's beautful music, beautifully sung. Because it's sublimely emotional music, sublimely felt. Because it's modern music that sounds strangely familiar; if you've appreciated Gregorian or Orthodox chant, you'll recognize both the indebtedness and the orginality of Part's music. Because most of the texts are in English or in familiar liturgical Latin; an English text does offer something by way of immediacy.

Arvo Part began his musical career writing successfully in the more or less standard musical vocabulary of modernism. But then, out of dissatisfaction, he turned to the music of the Middle Ages - chant and polyphonic tropes of chant - for new inspiration. There's a lot that's direct Medievalism in this performance. For comparison, listen to some of the CDs of Sequentia singing the Codex Calixtinus, or of Marcel Peres's Ensemble Organum, or of Paul Hillier's Hilliard Ensemble singing Perotinus. Part is plainchant driven to its irrational/rational extreme, taking dissonance and wild tessitura beyond the rules of Medieval composition. While we can instantly relish 11th C organa, I seriously doubt that the 11th C chanters would have comprehended Arvo Part.

Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices is the perfect ensemble to sing this music, all of them having a background in Early Music, all grasping the aesthetics and vocal production techniques to make such music beautiful. The sound recording on this CD is among the best I've ever heard of a choral performance.

Religion has inspired world's greatest music. A huge share of the music I listen to is "religious" even though I am not a religious person. It seems obvious that Arvo Part is a composer striving to express his most profound religious thoughts and feelings in his music. You may wonder why I respond to it so profoundly, if I'm indifferent to the religious thoughts. That's simple. You couldn't be fully human without responding to the transcendent impulse expressed in religious feelings... and in this music.

When I first listened to this CD from a Tower Record sample shelf, I was amazed at the high quality of this recording. The music is sacred and the voices of both Pro Arte Singers and Theatre of Voices are clean and clear, you feel that you are listening to the music from the Heaven. Excellent performance.

...even so, I must begin my review with a bit of a grumble. One pays full price for this disc (in fact, everywhere I've seen it except on Amazon websites, one pays slightly over) and yet the running time is only 57 minutes.

Grumble aside, this is one of the finest Arvo Part recordings ever to appear, worthy of ECM's release some years back of "Te Deum." That disc closed with the eight-movement "Berliner Messe," and so does this disc, but the original organ accompaniment conceived by the composer has been revised and re-instated, bringing an added 'liturgical' sound to the work. This is sung one-to-a-part by the Theatre of Voices (including Paul Hillier as the bass singer) and is sensitively accompanied by Christopher Bowers-Broadbent. The clarity of sound throughout is unfailingly sharp, a credit to the singers more than anything else, and the music is beautifully enhanced by the acoustics of Ely Cathedral where these last tracks were recorded. Even if you already have the "Berliner Messe" (as recorded by Tonu Kaljuste on the ECM CD), it is worth getting this and listening to the organ version. The notes are the same, but the sound world is very different - and very compelling.

The first half of the programme features the unaccompanied Pro Arte Singers, conducted by Hillier, who explore the eponymous "I am the True Vine" (written for a recent celebratory service in Norwich Cathedral) along with some other short works, all dating from within the past ten years. This is some impressive music, a generous slice of Part's acclaimed tintinnabuli style in various forms (despite the disc's running time). A number of the tracks are premiere recordings: of note, "The Woman with the Alabaster Box" and "Tribute to Caesar" are marvellously written settings of passages from the Gospels, showing as did "The Beautitudes" the ways in which Part deals with the English language. A particularly pleasant touch is the opening track, "Bogoroditsye Dyevo," which Part wrote for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, in 1992 - this is a sprightly and joyful number that distills all of Part's hallmarks as a composer whilst managing to be brief and very 'Christmassy'!

It is not hard to see why Paul Hillier and Arvo Part have a successful working relationship. Part has supplied Hillier's various ensembles with some luscious and engrossing works (despite the overall simplicity of his style, some of the tracks on this disc really do keep you listening). In return, Hillier has directed them with aplomb and sensitivity, seeing that justice is done to each and every note. This recording is a wonderful testament to that relationship: the sound is beautifully crafted; indeed, it is hard to imagine it being sung any better.

A gem in many respects. Well done!

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.

I am overwhelmed everytime I listen to this CD! The richness of the harmonies and the power of the performances produce music that just sweeps me away. It is hard to do anything else while I'm listening to this music--it's so engaging that I find myself drifting off, enveloped in the gentle folds of Arvo Part's melodies.

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.

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.

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.

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.