Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt (born September 11, 1935 in Paide, Estonia), is an Estonian composer of classical music. Continuing struggles with Soviet officials led him to emigrate in 1980 with his wife and their two sons. Pärt lived first in Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship; and then he re-located to Berlin where he still lives.
Arvo Pärt (born September 11, 1935 in Paide, Estonia), is an Estonian composer of classical music. Continuing struggles with Soviet officials led him to emigrate in 1980 with his wife and their two sons. Pärt lived first in Vienna, where he took Austrian citizenship; and then he re-located to Berlin where he still lives.
Passio
The recording of this formidable piece of religious music dates back to 1988, though Passio had its Munich premiere back in 1982. The piece is an interpretation of the Passion as given account by St. John's gospel, which is here performed by The Hilliard Ensemble. At the core of the piece is the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus, as played out between tenor and bass vocalists, respectively. One of the key elements to the emotive success of Passio is the punctuation of the piece, with the …
Berliner Messe
With a number of modern classics already to his name, notably the Symphony No. 3 [Naxos 8.554591], Tabula Rasa [8.554591], Fratres and Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten [8.553750], culminating in 1982 with his largest work thus far, the St John Passion [8.555860], Arvo Pärt has during the past 20 years consolidated his reputation as one of the most significant composers at work today with a sequence of magnificent sacred choral works. The present recording provides an overview of Pärt’s mature…
A Portrait
Arvo Pärt: A Portrait. His Works, his Life. It contains 2 CDs with over 2½ hours of music, richly illustrated with rarely seen photographs, and a detailed essay by Nick Kimberley. The music of Arvo Pärt draws on traditions stretching back across the centuries, yet it could only have been written by someone who had lived through the complexities and contradictions of the last half-century. In his native Estonia, his early music incurred the wrath of the Soviet authorities; when he moved to the We…