Arvo Part: Adam's Lament

"Arvo Pärt’s music has such universal appeal that it is easy to lose sight of the specific spiritual traditions that feed it. On 'Adam’s Lament,' a CD of choral works, Mr. Pärt, an Estonian, displays his affinity for the mystics and saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The collection is anchored by the 25-minute work for choir and orchestra that lends its name to the recording. In it Mr. Pärt sets the poetic lamentations of St. Silouan, a Russian Orthodox monk on Mount Athos in Greece, which describe Adam’s anguish at finding himself expelled from paradise. There is a world-weary heaviness to the work, with lumbering chords in the strings, monumental outbursts and abrupt silences. ... Short choral works — including the celestial 'Salve Regina' and 'Statuit ei Dominus,' with its colorful woodwind writing — offer further glimpses of Mr. Pärt’s tender and ponderous sides" (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, "'Adam's Lament' and Other Choral Works," New York Times, 10/26/12).

View catalog record here!