Classically Speaking

“Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells”

-Edgar Allen Poe, “The Bells”

The word for the day is: tintinnabulation. Estonian composer Arvo Pärt has used it tp describe the technique he uses to create his resonant, beautiful music.  

Here’s my playlist for celebrating Arvo Pärt’s birthday and his music. He turns 75 this Saturday!

Passio / The Hillier Ensemble

The first time that I heard Pärt’s music, it was the Passio, performed in Indiana, about five years ago. I really like this recording, but experiencing it in a live performance was overwhelming. The oboe and bassoon complement the solemn vocal lines so well.

Da Pacem / Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hiller, Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ

A beautiful mix of choral pieces, several with vocal soloists and organ. These are all wonderful performances. This album is a great introduction to Pärt’s music, and one of my favorites in our music library. I was going to pick a favorite track to highlight, but I give up. I love them all.

Cantique / Kristjan Järvi

(listen free online with NPR’s “First Listen” through September 21)

A new album!  I've just started listening to this new recording through NPR's First Listen. Stabat Mater and Cantique provide more of the lovely choral music that I expect from Pärt, with the addition of strings. I'm enjoying hearing his approach to the orchestra in his Symphony No. 3 on this album. It's intense.

Arvo Part: Portrait / Angele Dubeau and La Pieta

These lush string arrangements are quite pretty, and they capture some of the peaceful spirit found in the works that they have chosen. I like this album, but I think Dubeau's approach worked better for the previous album in this series, Philip Glass: Portrait. Listen to my interview with Angèle Dubeau here.

Bonus track: Spiegel im Spiegel [Mirrors in Mirrors] from Anne Akiko Meyers’s album Smile

A perfect moment, frozen in time. You may have heard this music in the film There Will Be Blood (in great contrast to the rest of the dense score by Johnny Greenwood and the manic use of the third movement from Brahms's Violin Concerto).  You can hear Meyers describing her approach to Spiegel im Spiegel in our interview here.

For more, check out Thursday’s episode of Performance Today, which features Pärt’s recent Symphony No. 4 “Los Angeles.”  In an interview on that show, Pärt caught my attention with this description of his music when he said, “It is not mysticism, it is real life.”  

What do you think of Pärt’s music? Do you have a strong memory of discovering it? What other recordings or pieces do you recommend?