Orient / Occident - Arvo Part

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
ECM 1795 472080; ECM RECORDS - Germania;

AMAZON
The latest ECM release of music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt takes its title from the shortest work on the disc, Orient Occident, composed in 2000 for string orchestra. Tinged with Eastern musical motives, the texture constantly alternates between rich harmonies and unison sections.

The CD opens with Pilgrim's Song, Pärt's tribute to his friend, the Estonian film and theatre director Grigori Kromanov. The work was written in 1984 for male voice and string quartet but it is the 2001 version for men's choir and string orchestra which is heard here. Based on Psalm 121 ("I will lift mine eyes unto the hills"), Pilgrim's Song explores, as Pärt explains in his sleevenote, time and timelessness. The mellifluous vocal writing contrasts with a heartfelt mourning figure for strings.

Como cierva sedienta (1998)--a five-movement choral drama for soprano, women's choir and orchestra--is the most substantial work on the disc. It begins in familiar Pärt territory--sustained voices, a tolling bell--before the orchestra begins to unfold. Some of the music which follows is almost filmic with its blazing trumpets and stratospheric vocal writing. Committed performances throughout come from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir directed by Tõnu Kaljuste. --Rebecca Agnew

Number of Discs: 1

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