★★★★☆
Silenced by Communism in his prime, the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt delved into a personal religious faith whose musical language pre-dated the Reformation. He turned 90 this week. The vocal works on this birthday album are all devotional, some resembling early Anglican worship, others of a profound personal character.
I was magnetised by Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, where Pärt explores pre-Christian monodies in a unified world without doctrines and divisions, let alone dialectical materialism. He does unexpected things with voices and echoes, creating a sound that is at once tranquil and haunted. What Pierre Boulez once dismissed as “holy minimalism” proves irresistibly hypnotic.
The only work in the Estonian language, And I heard a voice …, is the most compelling track on the album, stretching out into a boundless vista of faith and hope. Ensemble Vox Clamantis, a group of apparently 14 singers, perform a capella under conductor Jaan-Eik Tulve. Just listen. You will not forget this sound for a very long while.
