Litany
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Music CD Cover
Composer: Arvo PartConductor: Saulius Sondeckis
Conductor: Tonu Kaljuste
Performer: Hilliard Ensemble
Orchestra: Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra
Orchestra: Tallinn Chamber Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1996-09-17
Music Label: Ecm Records
Soundtracks:
- Litany (To Helmuth Rilling And The Oregon Back Festival)
- Psalom (To Alfred Schlee On His Birthday)
- Trisagion (Dedicated To The Parish Of Prophet Elias In Ilomantsi On The Occasion Of Its 500th Anniversary)
Free Music Notes for Litany
Free Music Review: Approaches some of the finest modern Christian composition
Hit: 4 Stars
LITANY collects three works by Arvo Part from the mid-1990s. They are all related to Eastern Orthodoxy and, in my opinion, form Part's first truly great religious composition.
"Litany" is an English-language setting of the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom for each hour of the day and night. Chrysostom's is one of the greatest litanies in Christianity and an example of the skill with words which gained him the epithet "Golden-Mouthed". With its continuous cycling between softer lulls and loud, proud entreaties the work might be best compared to Giya Kancheli's "Styx". The work is performed by the Tallin Chamber Orchestra with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by Tonu Kaljuste. However, the four main vocal parts are performed by singers from the Hilliard Ensemble, native speakers of English who can really bring out a most euphonious rendition.
The latter two works on the disc are performed by the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Saulius Sondeckis. "Psalom", written in 1985 and dedicated to the music publisher Alfred Schlee, and revised in 1995 is a relatively brief instrumental appreciation of the Psalter. It is a pretty work, but brief and quickly forgotten after the following piece. "Trisagion" was written in 1992 for the 500-year anniversary of the parish of the Prophet Elias in Ilomantsi and revised in 1995. It is inspired by the Orthodox hymn of that name ("Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us."), but is purely instrumental. It requires great care and energy on the lower strings, and the orchestra pulls this off admirably.
I have criticized Part's work of the 1970's and 1980's as technically brilliant but spiritually dead, but in the 1990's, as he began using concrete concepts of his Orthodox faith instead of fuzzy and nebulous mentions of "spirituality", his oeuvre has approached the profound depths of Christian spirituality common to the work of Olivier Messiaen and Sofia Gubaidulina. This style culminated in his 1998 setting of the massive Kanon Pokajanen penitence text, though he subsequently seems to have moved on to yet another style.
Unfortunately ECM, as usual, gives us only about 50 minutes of music. It would be nice to have one more worked placed on the disc, since these releases aren't cheap. The liner notes are also somewhat disappointing, giving only details of the recording and the text of "Litany" with no biographical notes or musicological analysis.
While Part might be best approached through his tintinnabuli phase of the 1970s and 1980s, of which TABULA RASA (also on ECM) is a shining example, his work only got much better in the 1990's. This is a disc worth hearing for those who have already come to like Part's music, and anyone looking for powerfully Christian contemporary compositions.
Litany Poster
With Litany, Estonian composer Arvo P?rt created one of his stirring works: a nearly 23-minute long composition for orchestra and vocal ensemble based upon the 24 prayers of St. John Chrysostom (one for each hour of the day). Commissioned for the 25th Oregon Bach Festival, the composition is both memorable and timeless. It finds influences in everything from chant to the repetition of modern minimalism. Play it loudly and the striking vocals of the Hilliard Ensemble simply soar against the strings of Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. The orchestral Trisagion harkens towards Litany's mood swings and impact, but--sans voice--lacks the mysticism. One of Part's best, and as sacred as modern compositions come. --Jason VerlindeClassical Music CDs
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