Composer: Arvo Pärt
Performer: Polyphony
Conductor: Stephen Layton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA67375
Release: 2003
Size: 255 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Dopo la vittoria
02. Nunc dimittis
03. … which was the son of …
04. I am the true vine
05. Littlemore Tractus
06. Triodion
07. My Heart’s in the Highlands
08. Salve Regina
A new release from Polyphony, with Stephen Layton at the helm, always brings with it an assurance of singing of the highest possible calibre. Bring together a choir of such quality and the composer responsible for some of the most beautiful, transcendent music ever written, and the resultant disc is surely what must be one of, if not the most spectacular releases of the year. New works from Arvo Part are invariably cherished, and this disc contains no fewer than five world premiere recordingsDopo la vittoria, Nunc dimittis, Littlemore Tractus, My heart’s in the Highlands and Salve Regina. It was recorded in the presence of the enraptured composer earlier this year at the Temple Church, London. This is a disc of achingly lovely music at its most mesmericprepare to be stunned.
Listeners looking for examples of Arvo Pärt’s tonal, tintinnabular style will find that most of the works on this 2003 CD meet their needs. Composed between 1996 and 2002, these eight pieces are triadically based, shaded with modal inflections, and free of the tight dissonances and chromatic touches that adorned much of Pärt’s music in the 1980s. Dopo la vittoria (1996), the Littlemore Tractus (2001), and Salve Regina (2002) all premiered here, are almost exclusively diatonic, and Pärt’s bell-like voicings are quite effective in the resonant acoustics of Temple Church, London. Polyphony’s pure tones and clear textures ring out with a glorious aural halo, and these recordings are hardly to be improved upon. Even though My heart’s in the Highlands (2000) and the Nunc dimittis (2001) have also been recorded in fine performances on Black Box, the renditions by Polyphony predate them and are still the best. I am the true vine (1996), Triodion (1998), and …which was the Son of… (2000) have been recorded before and released in surveys of varied consistency. However, their inclusion here with pieces of the same decade and style makes their place in his late oeuvre perfectly clear. Hyperion captures the hushed ambience of Polyphony’s reverent performances.