Customer Reviews

Arvo Pärt: Passio

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The Estonian composer Arvo Part has composed in several styles during his 40-year career, but the most popular is his "tintinnabuli" style of the 1970s and 1980s, when he chose to turn away from the avant-garde towards the simpler, bell-like sonorities of medieval Western music and plainsong. Because of the frugal nature of the music, as well as the religious titles of many of his works of this time, this style has been called by some "holy minimalism". One of his most ambitious works of this era is his PASSIO or, to use its full title, "Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem".

The PASSIO is a straightforward setting of the Latin (Vulgate) text of St John's Gospel. However, those expecting to hear a St John's Passion classical like Bach's or fresh and modern like Sofia Gubaidulina's will be surprised. Part has looked far into the past, further back than Bach, and produced a work reminiscent of Gregorian chant. This 60-minute work is sung uninterrupted (though Naxos has created a disc with four tracks), and the first thing that will strike the listener is its smooth and seemingly unchanging veneer. The six vocalists--Jesus, Pilate, and a quartet representing the Evangelist, sing with total sincerity but no urgency in order to let the listener form his own private relationship to his crucified Saviour out of the presented words. Each of the singers is accompanied by certain instruments, Jesus and Pilate by organ, while the Evangelist quartet by violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon.

I have been hard on Part's oeuvre during this period. Popular works like "Tabula Rasa" and "Cantus" are supposed to be "spiritual", but they communicate no clear religious orthodoxy and the listener hears whatever he wants to in it. I favour his works of the mid-to-late 1990s when he began to compose music deeply linked to his Russian Orthodox faith, a phase which culminated in his magisterial 1998 setting of the KANON POKAJANEN penitence text of St Andrew of Crete. However, PASSIO is a marvelous exception in his tintinnabuli phase. This is deeply Christian music, not easy to listen to but capable of focusing the believer on the core of his faith. I only wish that Part decided, as did Gubaidulina after her great, much greater than Part's, JOHANNES-PASSION, to set the Easter according to St John as well, it would be fascinating to hear Part's perspective on the other half of Christianity's foundation.

This performance on Naxos by the Tonus Peregrinus led by Antony Pitts is fairly good, but I do not think that it can be ranked as highly as the performance by the Hilliard Ensemble on ECM. One or two vocalists in the Evangelist quartet seem limpid, and the the instruments are call too much attention to themselves and detract from the Gospel presentation (either over-agressive playing or poor mixing). However, as with the ECM recording, the composer was consulted during the preparations, so we cannot assume that the result is too far off from what Part desires. So, this is not a bad recording, simply not the best. I have not yet heard the recording on Finlandia. The liner notes are relatively informative, though like all Naxos discs they are unappealingly typeset. There is a short biography of Part and description of his works, along with the Latin text of the PASSIO with English (apparently KJV) translation.

If you have not heard Part's music before, I would suggest the TABULA RASA or LITANY discs on ECM. With several works presented in each disc, there will give one a pretty good coverage of his compositional techniques. If you like what you have heard there, and are welcoming to deeply Christian music, PASSIO will probably not disappoint, but try the Hilliard Ensemble's performance first before buying this if you enjoy the work so much.

The first thing to strike me of this recording is that the sound is absolutely perfect, as clear as a bell. The end of each recitation trails and maintains a perfect pitch and flawless tone. Kudos to both the singers and the engineers.

Robert MacDonald is particularly impressive. All soloists are wonderful.

I've also heard the ECM version several times, unfortunately it developed a skip so I decided to try the Naxos version. Both versions are wonderful, thought the sound is clearer on the Naxos version. The ECM version has more reverberation; although this is not a necessarily bad thing. It adds a certain ambience and atmosphere.

Of course the biggest difference is price. The ECM Part CDs are extremely expensive, and, well, we all know about Naxos. So if it's only one version to purchase, it's an easy choice. If you like this particular Passio of Part's, though, you may eventually seek out a used or bargain copy of the ECM version also.

Although Norman Lebrecht has criticized this piece as "so regressively reverential that it hardly emerges from the 17th century;" it only sounds superficially as if it had been written in that time period. In fact, it is thoroughly grounded in the sensibility of the 20th century. It is the apotheosis of Pärt's "tintinnabuli" system, here achieving a rigidity reminiscent of the technique of total serialism. This version goes beyond the structure exemplified in the original ECM recording, in that here the composer's plan for the silences between notes is respected. Ironically, the result, for a piece relating St. John's passion, is singularly devoid of that very emotion - at least in the normally understood sense. In its smooth evenness, the passion is understated, serene, unbroken by "events." In the liner notes, Pärt expresses his interest in what happened "before the Big Bang...where God had created the formula" (interestingly, there need be no conflict here between religion and science!). The rules governing the piece's construction were laid out beforehand, and adjusted until the desired outcome was achieved. The result is of interest for its place in the composer's development, and certainly as an experiment, taking this composition method to its ultimate (and logical) conclusion. Starkly uniform throughout, the moment of greatest excitement within the main body of the piece is the word "crucifigeretur," the longest word in the composition, occasioning thereby the furthest movement away from its base note. The piece concludes with a beautiful chorus of Qui passus es pro nobis, Miserere nobis.

If you're looking for a nice passion setting, but something different from Bach, then you can't do much better than Arvo Part's "Passio," which uses his signature sacred minimalism and tintinnabuli. He defines his signature style this way on his website: "Pärt refers to his current style as 'tintinnabuli.' This can be defined as the application of various inversions of a certain chord. Also, it is a word 'which evokes the pealing of bells, the bells' complex but rich sonorous mass of overtones, the gradual unfolding of patterns implicit in the sound itself, and the idea of a sound that is simultaneously static and in flux.'"

"Passio" is a through-composed setting of John 18-19. There are 4 sections, with 50 phrases each, and a final 10-phase sequence. Each section begins with a different solo voice, an instrument then joins it, and this pattern continues until all 8 are sounding. The tonal center is D-A-E-B, a series of overlapping 5ths. Interestingly, Christ has the longest and lowest notes, with E being the tonal center. The music continues in a minimalist fashion until the final 10-phase sequence, when the tonality changes considerably, and the piece concludes in a powerful climactic chord of "amen."

Antony Pitts does a great job in pulling off Part's notoriously difficult music, and making it enjoyable. The choir is well-blended, well-trained, and execute the music beautifully. A must for any music lover looking for a passion setting that's a bit different.

Part's Passion is brilliant beyond words for his use of counter melody and sustain. A beautifully moving work that transends most of what he has done before.

This is a hauntingly beautiful account of St John's Passion, quite otherworldly. Compared to other composers, Part refuses to cheapen the piece with any melodramatic fireworks, instead simply letting the text and music convey the magnitude of the Passion, so more closely aligned to earlier mediaeval polyphony. (Indeed Tonus Peregrinus recorded St Luke's Passion in this manner, also on Naxos).
Thus unadorned, this is music with Part's trademark ebb and flow of melody, with appropriate pauses, to let the music breathe.
As a result, the overall piece is the more powerful, and deeply moving, for this restraint. Exquisitely sung,the transcendent beauty of the waves of music have both a deep sadness, yet a healing tranquillity at their heart. This is music which reaches out beyond the boundaries of specific religion, offering redemption to all faithful listeners. An arresting and haunting composition.

It is extrordinary how the passion according to St John can be the subject of such different music. Coming to Part from say Bach's take on this, one is astounded by the difference in musical language and yet they both communicate in their own way (if that is not stating the obvious re Bach) to a deeper understanding of the narrative. Part's account is, as you would expect, minimalist, but one is strangley moved by it despite the apparent monotony and subtle variations.

If you listen to this piece without any prior knowledge of the circumstances of its creation, you might think that this work was composed around the Middle Ages, or certainly before the Renaissance. However, that is not the case, as this setting of the Passion was composed around 1980.
This piece might seem a bit repetitive and monotonic in structure at first, and you might not wish to continue listening, but take it from me, bear with it. The beauty of this piece is that it unfolds in a natural fashion. It doesn't simply drone on meaninglessly; if you stay with it, there will be an internal part of your being that will thank you for it. This is your soul.
If you're expecting a setting like that of Bach (the greatest composer of all time, in my book), then this might not be for you. But if you're in the mood for a deeply intimate piece of natural music, then look no further. Part's Passio is nothing short of a spiritual triumph! Buy this!
I would expect nothing less from Naxos. Their recordings are superb, and this one is no acception. Tonus Peregrinus in in top form, and this recording shouldn't be overlooked. I'm sure Part is very proud of this one!