Vanaf 1984 heeft ECM New Series 14 albums met muziek van Arvo Pärt uitgebracht, waaronder veel premières. Manfred Eicher raakte tijdens een autorit gefascineerd door Tabula Rasa. Zo zeer dat hij alles op alles moest zetten om de componist te achter halen. Dit leidt tot de eerste uitgave en zo maakte het grote publiek kennis met de muziek van Arvo Pärt. Bij de tachtigste verjaardag brengt ECM dit album van twee cd’s met de persoonlijke voorkeuren van Eicher. Het album opent met Es sang vor langen Jahren, een gedicht van Clemens Brentano dat door Arvo Pärt prachtig voor een nachtegaalstem is getoonzet. Natuurlijk staat Frates erbij, het eerste werk dat Eicher opnam met Gideon Kremer en Keith Jarrett. Een prachtige collage met muziek van Arvo Pärt in de geest van de componist, omdat hij bij de meeste opnamen aanwezig is. Wie de muziek van Arvo Pärt nog niet kent is dit een prachtig album om met hem kennis te maken.
Arvo Pärt - Musica Selecta
A Sequence By Manfred Eicher
Es Sang vor Langen Jahren for alto, violin & viola
Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano), Gidon Kremer (violin), Vladimir Mendelssohn (viola)
Für Alina
Alexander Malter (piano)
Mein weg hat Gipfel und Wennentaler
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tönu Kaljuste
Ode VI, from Kanon pokajanen
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tönu Kaljuste
Silouans Song
Tallin Chamber Orchestra, Tönu Kaljuste
Fratres for Violin & Piano
Gidon Kremer (violin), Keith Jarrett (piano)
Alleluja Tropus for choir and string orchestra
Vox Clamantis
Sinfonietta Rīga, Tönu Kaljuste
Trisagion
Saulius Sondeckis (violin/conductor)
Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Beatus Petronius
Latvian Radio Choir
Sinfonietta Rīga, Tönu Kaljuste
Pilgrims' Song
Swedish Radio Choir
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tönu Kaljuste
Most Holy Mother of God
The Hilliard Ensemble
Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Dennis Russell Davies
Magnificat
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tönu Kaljuste
Festina Lente
Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn, Dennis Russell Davies
Lamentate
Alexei Lubimov (piano)
SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko
Stabat Mater
Lynne Dawson (soprano), David James (counter-tenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Gidon Kremer (violin), Vladimir Mendelssohn (viola), Thomas Demenga (cello)
Da pacem Domine
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tönu Kaljuste
Composer Arvo Pärt and producer Manfred Eicher have maintained their creative partnership for more than 30 years. Eicher launched ECM New Series in 1984 as a platform for Pärt's music, bringing the Estonian composer to the world's attention with 'Tabula Rasa'. Since that epochal release, all first recordings of Pärt's major works have been made for ECM, with the composer's committed participation.
In this special double album, issued on Pärt's 80th birthday, Eicher revisits episodes from their shared musical quest, evoking fresh associations from juxtapositions of pieces in his dramaturgical sequence, as listeners are invited to hear the music anew. Compositions heard here include the legendary ECM premiere recordings of Es sang vor langen Jahren, Für Alina, Mein Weg, Kanon Pokajanen, Silouans Song, Fratres, Alleluia-Tropus, Trisagion, Beatus Petronius, Wallfahrtslied/Pilgrims' Song, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Magnificat, Festina Lente, Lamentate, Stabat Mater, Da Pacem Domine, and a previously unreleased version of Most Holy Mother of God.
As for the performers, documentation of Pärt on ECM started with the recording of Fratres with Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarrett joining forces for the only time and has expanded to embrace many musicians who have, in turn, become closely associated with Pärt's music. These have included the Hilliard Ensemble, the British vocal group whose pure approach to early music was to prove eminently adaptable to Pärt's timeless oeuvre.
"My contact with ECM is beyond categorization," Arvo Pärt has said. "It is a natural supplement to my composing. Manfred Eicher's instrument is sound, acoustics, the sounding space which can be heard only by him. He hears in a special way and his records are a result of this hearing. What I call a piece of art made by Manfred is actually a rich and sensitive complex of hearing, thinking, feeling, taste and artistic skill, a whole philosophy. It is also something very lively and in continuous formation. Our work together making new records is always a celebration."
