Pärt: Tintinnabuli

To celebrate Arvo Part's 80th birthday, Gimell presents a new recording of some of the Estonian composer's finest a cappella choral works. This is the first album of contemporary music from The Tallis Scholars since their famous 1984 recording of works by John Tavener. The program here includes several major works including the Magnificat, Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen, Triodion and I Am the True Vine. The album's title refers to the compositional style Part developed in the 1970s and now employs in most of his works. This simple style was influenced by the composer's mystical experiences with sacred chant. Tintinnabuli works often have a slow and meditative tempo and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance. MusicWeb International February 2015 “I’ve heard several fine performances of [the Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen] in the past but I fancy this present recording may well be the best I’ve ever experienced....these are absolutely outstanding performances. The singing is beyond reproach and the Tallis Scholars penetrate to the heart of Arvo Pärt’s music...I doubt that in the coming year there will be many tributes to Arvo Pärt that surpass the excellence of this one.” Gramophone Magazine March 2015 “the purity of The Tallis Scholars' sound provides the perfect scaffolding for the pieces on this disc...And in their performance...The Tallis Scholars have presented their chosen repertoire in the way they have always done best - as a sound world of profound beauty.” The Times 13th March 2015 ***** “The forces are modest, just two voices to a part, perfect for spreading clarity and light. Purity of tone, perfect pitch, ensemble poise...For all Phillips’s iron control, these performances are never coldly correct. We know these are human beings singing...This is a gorgeous and inspiring album.” The Observer 15th March 2015 **** “the Tallis Scholars bring their own unblemished radiance to this glowing music.” BBC Music Magazine April 2015 **** “Stripping down the number of voices in Pärt has palpable benefits...Not that there's any sense of power missing: in the tutti of the Magnificat, the crescendos are ringing, and again one notes how cleanly the passing of musical narrative from part to part is realised with fewer voices.” International Record Review May 2015 “[From the opening bars] this disc of unaccompanied choral works from The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips announces itself as one of the great Pärt recordings…The Tallis Scholars display a profound consanguinity with Pärt's music: its immobility, its objectivity, its non-developmental aesthetic. Composer and interpreters could hardly be better matched…[this is] a disc of quite exceptional, at times heart-stopping, beauty. While there may be other Pärt recordings in this, his 80th birthday year, it is difficult to imagine there being a finer one than this.”