As one of the founding fathers of what has become known
as ‘sacred’ or ‘mystic minimalism’, Arvo Pärt has a loyal following.
Whether or not you respond to this type of music depends, I think, on
whether you view it as soporific ‘wallpaper’ music, or as a deeply-felt,
hypnotically intense experience. Manfred Eicher’s ECM label was largely
responsible for bringing Pärt’s music into the public domain, and
this latest release from them brings us right up to date with his compositional
thoughts.
It is good to report that far from resting on his laurels
and giving us more of the same, there are new sounds discernible within
his familiar frameworks. Thus the opening work, Wallfahrtslied
(a setting in German of Psalm 121 – ‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the
hills’) shows a trend towards something altogether tougher, more sinewy,
in the polyphonic textures. This may be due to the piece’s inspiration,
the death of Pärt’s close friend, Estonian film and stage director
Grigori Kromanov, in 1984. Pärt’s short note in the booklet movingly
describes the ‘invisible rift that had opened up between us’, and how
this piece was an attempt to ‘overcome this insurmountable gap’. The
piece is an 8-minute threnody, with a characteristic, gently rocking
string figuration over which the men’s voices chant in unison. These
two basic contrasting components then begin to develop, the chanting
growing louder, the strings becoming much more agitated. At around 3’30
a climactic moment is approached, the strings pleading in a higher register
with an almost Mahlerian intensity. This becomes a cry of desperation,
a need to understand and come to terms with loss, before subsiding into
calm resignation.
The CD’s title work, Orient Occident, is actually
the shortest piece on the disc, though no less intense. Again the basic
material may sound familiar – it is in places reminiscent of his earlier
well known works Fratres and Tabula Rasa. The piece is
constructed like links in a chain, with tiny contrasting musical segments
– orientally tinted monody and rich chords – converging and juxtaposing
in a steady stream of sound. The monophonic line has the feel of a cantus
firmus, but the inner eruptions of volume and density give the music
a much tougher edge than we are used to with this composer, as if awkward
issues are being played out before us.
By far the longest work on the disc is Como cierva
sedienta, a translation of the familiar Psalms 42-43 ‘As the hart
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God’.
Pärt tells us that he sees "My Soul" in David’s psalm
as ‘the soul of us all, our path through life – a path filled with suffering
and drama, consolation and ultimate despair’. These contrasts are reflected
in music of revelatory intensity from the women’s voices (akin to one
of Hildegard’s ‘Visions’), and moments of gloomy intensity from the
orchestra. There are recognisable melodic patterns at work here, neatly
providing the ear with the necessary structural unity. At one of the
most moving points (4’07), a high solo soprano intones the phrase ‘I
pour out my soul in me’ to the solitary accompaniment of a drum beat,
extremely effective in its simplicity and curiously reminiscent of another
moving choral work, Preisner’s Requiem for my Friend. The Orthodox
chant that has so influenced Pärt is much in evidence, and we have
further evidence of thorny spiritual questions being asked – the outburst
at the words ‘Judge me, O God’ is almost violent by this composer’s
standards. The work does end on a calm note, where peace and reconciliation
appear to win out, though tiny, nagging questions prevent the full circle
being closed too comfortably.
Some outstanding and thought-provoking works here,
then, the quality of which outweigh the rather miserly playing time
(especially at full price). The performances could hardly be better;
Tönu Kaljuste is a long-time friend and interpreter of Pärt’s
music (he was responsible for one of the composer’s best earlier releases
on Virgin, Beatus vir). He coaxes playing of great warmth and
intensity from his forces, and producer Manfred Eicher and his team
serve them well with a recording of demonstration quality. Whether you’re
interested in this composer’s particular style or not, this is well
worth investigating.
Tony Haywood