In Principio

Arvo Part (Composer), Tonu Kaljuste (Conductor), Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
• Orchestra: Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Tonu Kaljuste
• Composer: Arvo Part
• Audio CD (March 3, 2009)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: ECM Records
• ASIN: B001O2BR5K
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,473 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist

25 years ago, in 1984, Arvo Pärt's Tabula rasa launched ECM's New Series. The recording indeed marked a new beginning and not only for Pärt's work, providing impulses for contemporary composition at many levels. The power of Pärt's music, moreover, underlined by the conviction of his religious feeling, struck a chord amongst listeners which continues to resonate. As fellow composer Steve Reich has observed, Pärt's music of spiritual yearning seems to fulfill a human need.

In Principio, Pärt's new album, his eleventh for ECM, is both a continuation and a recording which posits fresh directions in his music, offers fresh colors. Four pieces, "In principio", "La Sindone", "Cecilia, vergine romana" and "Für Lennart in memoriam" are heard in première recordings. The album also revisits and revises important pieces. We hear a transformed "Da Pacem Domine", and a radically new version of "Mein Weg".

Performers are the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, under the inspired direction of Tõnu Kaljuste, long a staunch ally and committed advocate for the composer's work.

"In principio erat Verbum..." In the beginning was the word. The composition "In Principio" (2003) for mixed choir and orchestra begins with the famous line that opens the Gospel of St John, and sets its first fourteen verses. It is a work that seems chiseled out of sound itself, the hallmarks of Pärt's powerful - and timeless - musical signature immediately apparent. The work is dedicated to Kaljuste (as was "Kanon Pokajanen", a decade ago).

"La Sindone" (2005) for orchestra, addresses the enigma of the Holy Shroud said to bear the imprint of Christ's face. Its history can be traced back with certainty as far as the 14th century, but beyond that history blurs into myth. Legend has it that from Jerusalem the cloth was conveyed to Aleppo, Constantinople, Cyprus, Paris, Lirey and Chambery and finally Turin, where it has been preserved since 1578. Pärt's strongly evocative composition, imaginatively inspired both by the shroud's journey and its essential mystery, was premiered in Turin in 2006 (when it was played alongside "Cecilia, vergine romana" and "Da Pacem Domine").

"Cecilia, vergine romana" (2000, revised 2002) for mixed choir and orchestra, takes its text from the Roman Breviary, and tells the tale of the Roman maiden Cecilia (2nd century AD), who is said to have continued singing the praises of God even as she died a martyr's death. She is revered as the patron saint of musicians.

"Da pacem Domine" (2004) was first heard on ECM in the version for five singers a cappella (the Hilliard Ensemble plus Sarah Leonard) on Lamentate. Here we hear the version for mixed choir and orchestra. The musical point of departure for the piece, commissioned by Jordi Savall, was the ninth-century Gregorian antiphon, an intercession in the liturgy and in polyphony which many composers over the centuries have been inspired to set to music. Pärt began writing the piece two days after the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004, and the piece is dedicated to the victims of that terrorist action.

"Mein Weg" was written as a composition for organ in 1989, and recorded as such by Christopher Bowers-Broadbent for ECM on the album Trivium the following year. In 1994 Pärt prepared a version for strings and percussion. The piece is given a compelling, sinuously undulating and hypnotically-insistent performance here by the Tallinn players.

The program is completed by "Für Lennart in memoriam" a very still piece for the late Estonian president (and writer and film director) Lennart Georg Meri, a work premiered by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at Meri's funeral in 2006.

(For more information on the individual pieces and Pärt's oeuvre, please consult the CD booklet notes by Wolfgang Sandner.)

The album was recorded in Pärt's homeland in 2007 and 2008.

Product Description

This is an eagerly-awaited record featuring exciting new music from one of the world's most famous living composers. The music provides an impressive overview of Pärt's recent stylistic development covering six touching compositions of different scale and instrumentation written between 1989 and 2005. These are "authentic" premiere recordings made with the composer's assistance: In principio (for mixed choir and orchestra) La Sindone (for orchestra) Cecilia, vergine romana (for mixed choir and orchestra) Da Pacem Domine (for mixed choir and orchestra) Mein Weg (for 14 strings and percussion) Für Lennart in memoriam (for string orchestra) "In Principio" is being released to coincide with the 25-year anniversary of ECM's New Series that was launched with Pärt's "Tabula Rasa" in 1984- the disc which put the composer on the map internationally.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet Another Masterpiece, March 30, 2009

By 

D. F. Wade "Beorn Giedda" (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Principio (Audio CD)

Mr. Pärt's done it again. His latest release under the ECM New Series lable is brilliant, displaying some of his most mature and inspired work yet (which is saying something). There are six pieces here, four of them never before released, the other two new versions of previously released pieces.

The opening and titular piece, "In Principio", consists of five movements, clocks in at nearly twenty minutes, and is scored for choir and full orchestra. As his other pieces of the past several years that employed full orchestra have already shown and is here reinforced, Pärt is able to use the orchestra to great effect and color. It's a stirring piece, often sounding more overtly classical than many of his other pieces (classical in the Mozart, Beethoven, etc. sense). As another reviewer observed, it sometimes sounds like Mozart's Requiem, though I would add that its color and simple austerity keep it from sounding merely imitative, which it isn't.

"La Sindone", this time for orchestra alone, is a haunting piece of music. Over its fifteen minute running length, it establishes an ever more apparent sense of mystery and tension, building up to a climax before levelling off in an otherworldly E-flat chord for strings.

"Cecilia, vergine romana", up till now, could only be heard in snipets on the Pärt documentary, "24 Preludes for a Fugue", and those snipets indicated a sublimity that made this perhaps the most personally anticipated track on the album. It's a beautiful piece, culminating in a magnificent finale.

"Da Pacem Domine" was first heard on the 2005 release "Lamentate", where it was beautifully arranged for a small vocal ensemble. But here, it's scored for a larger ensemble, and string accompaniment. This new scoring adds a beauty and depth to the piece that make it truly superior to the older recording. A fantastic track.

"Mein Weg", originally scored for organ, now appears for strings and percussion. At first, it seems like the odd-man out, with its dissonances and aggitated feel. But by the end of the piece, it's proven its right to be on this album, and in fact provides a nice change of tone from that of the previous tracks.

The final piece, "Für Lennart", is an achingly beautiful piece written in memory of that other notable Estonian, Lennart Meri, politician, film-maker, and writer. Anything I might add would only subtract from the sublimity of this piece. A great end to the album.

As is to be expected from ECM, the recording quality is top-notch, and the packaging is very nice. All in all, a fantastic album, and a gem in the already lusterous crown of Arvo Pärt's oeuvre. Highly recommended. Now all we can do is hope that the next release won't take another four years, and until then, enjoy the music.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious composition, March 9, 2009

By 

Heavy Theta (Lorton, Va United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Principio (Audio CD)

On first listen the performance sounded an amalgamation of Mozart Requiem, Glass's Mishima soundtrack and Barber. What impresses is the combinations of what should be opposing elements. It is both somber and yet unceasingly energetic. The pieces are melodic, but also display the unfurling of sequenced repetition. Maybe the fundamental dichotomy that underlies and propels the work is the use of modern stasis technique to color an homage to basic european tradition. This is music that must be attended; it may display the usual ECM warm sonics, but it is hardly ambient in nature. This is the premiere of a serious concert; formal wear optional.

22 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent and Original!, March 5, 2009

By 

mchia "mchia" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Principio (Audio CD)

Every track on this recording is a pleasant and wonderful surprise. Part has produced a modern masterpiece! He is fresh, spiritual, sometimes almost elusive - carrying your mind to new places and beautiful vistas within your heart. One has to experience this recording and live its many triumphs!