No one does Pärt like ECM and these seventeen voices create a collection as peaceful and pure as any I have yet heard.

Label: ECM Records
Time: 13 Tracks / 62 mins

There are various shades of Arvo Pärt’s music, and for those of us who prefer the calm-inducing pieces, this release, featuring shorter and more recent compositions, is a great find.

Vox Clamantis (who sang on Pärt’s Adam’s Lament) are a joy to listen to, with ECM founder Manfred Eicher creating a beautifully pure sound, enhanced and gently softened by the warm resonance of Tallinn Transfiguration Church.

The group was formed to specialise in Gregorian chant and early polyphony, but have grown to be friendly collaborators with their fellow Estonian composer.

As well as two fine first-time recordings – which unfortunately only total under four minutes – about half of these pieces are rarely-recorded works, including some of the highlights. “Sei Gelobt, du Baum” is for a male choir, with a dusting of violin, double bass and lute; “Von Angesicht zu Angesicht,” based on 1 Corinthians 13:12, is a piece that displays what Pärt does best: treating the voices like an instrument, and bringing in long-held notes that appear, harmonise and disappear.

Right from the start, the old favourite “Da Pacem Dominie” similarly shows the sheer beauty of this minimalism – something to which Vox Clamantis give a high priority.

The title track – a setting of the Lorica of St. Patrick – shows how they can also add drama to a work, while retaining its sense of peace. It is one of nine á capella pieces across the disc.

There is occasional and subtle instrumentation – an organ, clarinet or strings backing here and there – but only in the barest amounts. It is enough to add some colour to the voices without overpowering them.

Pärt is an extraordinary man, whose music was the most-performed globally of any living composer in the five years prior to his 80th birthday last year, ahead of John Adams and John Williams.  Although little is in English, the music is almost entirely expressions of his Orthodox faith: a creed, psalms, scripture passages and liturgy.

If you have yet to discover the work of this man, The Deer’s Cry would make a terrific companion to last year’s Musica Selecta 2CD overview. Only three and a half pieces overlap: “Da Pacem Domine;” “Most Holy Mother of God;” the finale of “Kanon Pokajanen” and “Alleluia Tropus” – the latter, which Pärt composed for this group, being á capella in this new version, is highly complementary.

For anyone who likes minimalism, this really is essential listening.



Derek Walker
http://walkerwords.wordpress.com