NAXOS Part: Berliner Messe, Magnificat, Summa

Arvo Part (b. 1935)Berliner MesseBorn in Paide, Estonia on 11th September 1935,Arvo Part studied in Tallinn with Harri Otsa andVeljo Tormis, then at the Tallinn Conservatoire withHeino Eller, graduating in 1963. While his earliestworks adopted an undemanding neo-classical style,his clandestine study of serial composition madeitself apparent in Nekrolog (1960), heralding aseries of scores, including Perpetuum Mobile andthe First 'Polyphonic' Symphony, which affordedPart notoriety amid the warily-conservativeestablishment of the period. A growing interest inthe music of Bach led Part to combine the famousB-A-C-H motif with often wildly extraneousmaterial, as in the cello concerto Pro et Contra andthe Second Symphony (both 1966). The climax ofthis period came with Credo (1968), in which Bachand Modernism openly conflict in a work whoseovert Christianity was considered a direct challengeto Soviet officialdom.Rather than pursue this line of thinking, Partretreated into near silence. The Third Symphony of1971 [Naxos 8.554591] gave notice of an intenseinterest in early music, notably Gregorian Chant,but it was not until 1976 that he again began tocompose fluently, using a tonal technique he termedtintinnabuli, in which the bell-like resonance ofnotes in a triad underscores a melodic voice whichrevolves step-wise around a central pitch. A numberof works considered modern classics followed,notably Tabula Rasa [Naxos 8.554591], Fratres andCantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten [both onNaxos 8.553750], culminating in 1982 with Part'slargest work thus far, the St John Passion [Naxos8.555860]. This paved the way for a sequence ofmainly sacred choral works, consolidating Part'sreputation among the most significant composers atwork today. The present recording provides anoverview of his mature idiom, with works writteneither side of the Passion, and in which a gradualexpressive opening-out and harmonic enrichment ofPart's musical vocabulary can be detected.Composed in 1977 and revised in 1996,Cantate Domino is a setting of Psalm XCV for fourpartchorus and organ. The simple, chant-likemelody is heard in a number of harmonizations andregistral combinations, with the sparing organ partadding a subtle degree of colour to the vocalwriting.Commissioned for the Ninetieth DeutscheKatholikentag in Berlin, Part's Berliner Messe wascomposed during 1990-91 and revised six yearslater. Originally scored for four solo voices andorgan, it was subsequently arranged either for choirand organ or, as on the present recording, for choirand strings. After an elegiac Kyrie, in which stringsintertwine with the choir's supplications, the Gloriaeffects a more animated manner within the samerestricted tonal and harmonic compass. In the firstof two departures from the customary Mass liturgy,Part interpolates a First and Second Alleluia whichwarm the choral textures with their major-moderadiance. There follows an extensive setting of theVeni Sancte Spiritus, in which alternate responsesfrom t