Arvo Pärt: Da Pacem

CML call number: CD CLASSICAL Pärt
Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times: "Composers' inner worlds usually seem less mysterious as you hear more of their work. Not so with the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. … In the nine choral works here, all on religious texts, Mr. Pärt preaches from what has become his accustomed perch in a stylistic space most notable for its temporal rootlessness. Medieval techniques and approaches to text setting are plentiful, even dominant. But glimmers of Renaissance polyphony and modern harmonic touches are also part of this elusive composer's arsenal. On the surface these are slow-moving, meditative scores. 'Da Pacem Domine' (2004), a prayer for peace, is cast in sustained tones with little harmonic growth and hardly any momentum, yet a listener is drawn inexorably into its hynotic four-part unaccompanied vocal texture. … Paul Hillier is an eloquent interpreter of Mr. Pärt's idiosyncratic style, and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, abetted by resonant church acoustics, contributes the right balance of beauty and austerity" ("Elusive Preaching, and a Beatle's Conservative Classicism," 10/8/06).