Arvo Pärt
TE DEUM

ECM NEW SERIES, ECM 1505, CD 439 162-2

Tõnu Kaljuste is nominated for the 37th Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category as a conductor for this record.
The record has stayed on The Billboard Classical 50 chart 52 weeks, the highest position reached No. 1.

Beautiful sounds, these - gripping yet remote, communicative yet deeply personal in their contemplative aura. I can't think of any recent liturgical music quite worthy of comparison with Te Deum, while the allround standard of presentation - performance, engineering, documentation - serves Pärt as devotedly as Pärt serves the Divine Image.

GRAMOPHONE - November 1993

In the Magnificat /.../ they sang with a marvellous purity of tone, a perfection of pitch and clarity of diction (wether in German or Latin) that most choral trainers would give eye teeth to emulate.
I cannot imagine even the most stony-hearted failing to be moved by this account of the Magnificat, presented by singers who took up an interpretative position at the emotional epicentre of the piece.

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN - 26/02/1993

The simplicity Pärt favours is one of purpose rather than means, not entirely mystic and not at all minimalist, but communicating a deeply held conviction through his devout religious faith. A work like the halfhour Te Deum, which ended with its quiet Sanctus chant dwindling into silence, is a marvellously musical affirmation of praise and prayer.

THE TIMES - 11/05/1995

It was almost impossible to separate the beauty of the music from the beauty of the performances. Under Tõnu Kaljuste's sensitive direction the Estonians proved themselves a superior mixed chorus. The 24 voices were acutely tuned and balanced, and they responded with great feeling to the delicate gradations of sound and silence in which Pärt's music glories.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE - 10/11/1996 /John von Rhein/

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