VA - Arvo Pärt: Musica Selecta (2015)

As the title and subtitle imply, this is a kind of greatest-hits album, with music selected by ECM label producer Manfred Eicher from the 12 albums on the label devoted to the music of Arvo Pärt. Pärt's music is so malleable that people tend to make their own versions of it rather than collect it, but if you wanted an anthology as a starter box, this would be the one to choose. Eicher has worked closely with Pärt since the 1980s, and he has indeed made a sensible "sequence" out of works that do not have a lot of contrast among them. Several of the early works that led to Pärt's mature minimalist style are here, as well as most of the better-known pieces: there's a gorgeous reading of probably the most-played one of all, Fratres, by Gidon Kremer on violin and jazzman Keith Jarrett, another ECM stalwart, on piano. The performances are all by musicians with deep sympathy for Pärt's music, and the two CDs take on a hypnotic quality after a while. The most impressive aspect, though, is the engineering. In Eicher's hands, Pärt's music seems to hang on the edge of silence: it is, in the prescient words of Federico Mompou, music that has fallen silent. The fact that Eicher managed to remaster tracks dating back as far as 1984 into a whole that is not only sonically coherent, but virtually seamless is testimony to how good the engineering was in the first place, and also to the remarkable care taken throughout the whole ECM Pärt project. A remarkable collection.

Tracklist:
1-1 Es Sang Vor Langen Jahren
Alto Vocals – Susan BickleyViola – Vladimir MendelssohnViolin – Gidon Kremer
1-2 Für Alina
Piano – Alexander Malter
1-3 Mein Weg
Conductor – Tõnu KaljusteOrchestra – Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
1-4 Kanon Pokajanen - Ode VI
Choir – Estonian Philharmonic Chamber ChoirConductor – Tõnu Kaljuste
1-5 Silouans Song
Conductor – Tõnu KaljusteOrchestra – Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
1-6 Fratres
Piano – Keith JarrettViolin – Gidon Kremer
1-7 Alleluia-Tropus
Choir – Vox ClamantisConductor – Tõnu KaljusteEnsemble – Sinfonietta Riga*
1-8 Trisagion
Conductor – Saulius SondeckisOrchestra – Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
1-9 Beatus Petronius
Choir – Latvian Radio ChoirConductor – Tõnu KaljusteEnsemble – Sinfonietta Riga*
2-1 Wallfahrtslied / Pilgrim's Song
Choir – Swedish Radio ChoirConductor – Tõnu KaljusteOrchestra – Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra*
2-2 Most Holy Mother Of God
Baritone Vocals – Gordon Jones (2)Countertenor Vocals – David James (13)Ensemble – The Hilliard EnsembleTenor Vocals – Rogers Covey-Crump, Steven Harrold
2-3 Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten
Conductor – Dennis Russell DaviesOrchestra – Staatsorchester Stuttgart
2-4 Magnificat
Choir – Estonian Philharmonic Chamber ChoirConductor – Tõnu Kaljuste
2-5 Festina Lente
Conductor – Dennis Russell DaviesOrchestra – Orchester Der Beethovenhalle Bonn
Lamentate
Conductor – Andrey BoreykoOrchestra – Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra*Piano – Alexei Lubimov
2-6 Fragile
2-7 Pregando
2-8 Solitudine - Stato D'animo
2-9 Stabat Mater
Cello – Thomas DemengaCountertenor Vocals – David James (13)Soprano Vocals – Lynne DawsonTenor Vocals – Rogers Covey-CrumpViola – Vladimir MendelssohnViolin – Gidon Kremer
2-10 Da Pacem Domine
Choir – Estonian Philharmonic Chamber ChoirConductor – Tõnu KaljusteOrchestra – Tallinn Chamber Orchestra