Arvo Part • Stabat Mater

Description

Around 1976, as Arvo Pärt’s work was about to be reborn in its new, “tintinnabular” form, the enthusiasm generated by the burgeoning early music scene in his native Estonia was to have, in his own words, “the effect of a midwife on my new music.” This ATMA release is unique in that it recaptures this fertile atmosphere in performances of these striking works—first and foremost the indescribably beautiful Stabat Mater—entirely on period instruments and in Baroque pitch (A = 415 Hz). The penetrating voices of the Montreal Early Music Studio Choir and the Franz Joseph Quartet also offer two perspectives on Pärt’s celebrated setting of the Christian Creed, Summa, while the Quartet alone performs Fratres (originally composed for a string ensemble on period instruments) and the ethereal miniature Psalom. Finally, the star countertenor Daniel Taylor sings the touching motet ‘Es sang vor langen Jahren’, with lyrics by the German Romantic poet CM von Brentano. A profound and moving experience.