{"id":14527,"date":"2018-08-24T20:52:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T17:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.epcc.ee\/2018\/08\/arvo-part-alfred-schnittke-choral-works\/"},"modified":"2018-12-12T10:02:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T08:02:02","slug":"arvo-part-alfred-schnittke-choral-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.epcc.ee\/en\/2018\/08\/arvo-part-alfred-schnittke-choral-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Arvo P\u00e4rt &#038; Alfred Schnittke &#8211; Choral Works"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\/&#8230;\/<\/p>\n<p>The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is possibly the finest choir i\u2019ve ever heard, though\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.prestoclassical.co.uk\/classical\/products\/8395544--alfred-schnittke-arvo-part-choral-works\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">their latest album (released by BIS)<\/a>\u00a0is more than usually demanding. Not, though, with respect to the music of\u00a0Estonia\u2019s most renowned composer,\u00a0<strong>Arvo P\u00e4rt<\/strong>, represented on this disc by his setting of the evening canticles\u00a0<em>Magnificat<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Nunc dimittis<\/em>. Performances and recordings of these pieces (particularly the\u00a0<em>Magnificat<\/em>) are plentiful, so it\u2019s no small thing when i say that this is, hands down, the best rendition of them i have ever heard. Conductor Kaspars Putni\u0146\u0161 avoids any kind of pushing of the tempo, allowing the music to move along at its own pace, and he also makes no excessive dynamic demands on the choir either.\u00a0The result is quintessential P\u00e4rt, solemn and passionate, capturing the \u2018inverted praise\u2019 of the\u00a0<em>Mag<\/em>\u00a0and the beautiful mix of tiredness and relief in the\u00a0<em>Nunc<\/em>, made all the more overwhelmingly intense due to the amazing clarity of this recording (quite an achievement considering it was recorded in Tallinn\u2019s reverberant\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/St._Nicholas%27_Church,_Tallinn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Niguliste Church<\/a>), making the liminal relationship between consonance and dissonance in the harmonies achingly\u00a0exquisite.<\/p>\n<p>The demands i mentioned come from the rest of the disc, devoted to\u00a0<strong>Alfred Schnittke<\/strong>\u2018s\u00a0<em>Psalms of Repentance<\/em>. In terms of sentiment, taken as a whole they are almost indigestible, being as they are burdened in extremis by the Christian church\u2019s central pivot: sin. i\u2019d go so far as to venture that the expression of self these works articulate is so abject as to beg some serious questions about how healthy the faith from which they sprang can honestly be regarded. The texts come from the writings of a 16th Century monk, and Schnittke\u2019s response to their bleak admissions and adjurations is a pure essay in lamentation and melancholy. Notwithstanding my last few sentences, many of the twelve pieces are staggeringly moving, Schnittke often setting up soundworlds where, despite the choir\u2019s activity and movement, the music exists in an apparent stasis, perhaps hinting at a timelessness and\/or a divinity permeating everything. The fourth psalm, \u2018My Soul, Why Are You in a State of Sin?\u2019 stands out due to the sheer power of its intimacy, like staring at oneself in a mirror; the eighth, \u2018If You Wish to Overcome Unending Sorrow\u2019, displays a lovely sense of impassioned unity, its closing sentiments a rare moment of radiant hope: \u201cDo not despair\u201d; and the\u00a0eleventh, \u2018I Entered This Life of Tears a Naked Infant\u2019, employs the most unbelievably spellbinding close harmonies.\u00a0As with the P\u00e4rt, the performance of the Schnittke by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is staggeringly transparent, which, for better or worse, exacerbates the Psalms\u2019 impact. Yet while there\u2019s something unavoidably depressing and wearying about the texts\u2019 fundamental outlook, Schnittke manages to locate penumbral light in these pools of otherwise infinite black. And sometimes, even when he doesn\u2019t, as in the wordless humming of the final psalm \u2013 the whole choir seemingly\u00a0suspended in liquid \u2013 the hypnotic effect he creates is absolutely stunning.<\/p>\n<p>\/&#8230;\/<\/p>\n<p>Look further: <a href=\"http:\/\/5against4.com\/2018\/08\/24\/erkki-sven-tuur-illuminatio-whistle-and-whispers-from-uluru-symphony-no-8-arvo-part-arvo-part-the-symphonies\/\">A blog 5:4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dr Simon Cummings Ph.D. M.Mus. B.Mus.(Hons) composer\/researcher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\/&#8230;\/ The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is possibly the finest choir i\u2019ve ever heard, though\u00a0their latest album (released by BIS)\u00a0is more than usually demanding. Not, though, with respect to the music of\u00a0Estonia\u2019s most renowned composer,\u00a0Arvo P\u00e4rt, represented on this disc by his setting of the evening canticles\u00a0Magnificat\u00a0and\u00a0Nunc dimittis. Performances and recordings of these pieces (particularly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Arvo P\u00e4rt &amp; Alfred Schnittke - Choral Works - Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epcc.ee\/en\/2018\/08\/arvo-part-alfred-schnittke-choral-works\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arvo P\u00e4rt &amp; Alfred Schnittke - Choral Works - Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\/&#8230;\/ The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is possibly the finest choir i\u2019ve ever heard, though\u00a0their latest album (released by BIS)\u00a0is more than usually demanding. Not, though, with respect to the music of\u00a0Estonia\u2019s most renowned composer,\u00a0Arvo P\u00e4rt, represented on this disc by his setting of the evening canticles\u00a0Magnificat\u00a0and\u00a0Nunc dimittis. 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