Arvo Pärt – The Master of Pure Sound
All the concert’s four choral works by Pärt have strong connections to the Christian faith, which characterized his life as well as his career. Most prominent are the two songs of praise from the New Testament: Virgin Mary’s, Magnificat, and Simeon’s, Nunc dimittis. Lars Johan Werle’s suggestive Canzone 126 inspired by Italian lyricist Francesco Petrarca is reminiscent of the same lyrical, vivid world of sound as Luciano Berio’s Cries of London, a portrayal of the city’s lights of long ago, and Tormi’s Tornikell minu külas or Tower Bell in My Village.
“I could compare my music to white light which contains all colours. Only a prism can divide the colours and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener.” – Arvo Pärt
It was a glorious winter’s day in February 1976. Arvo Pärt’s wife and soulmate Nora had tried to nudge Arvo into taking a walk with her all morning, but eventually gave up and left him hunched over his piano. Pärt had not composed anything for several years. Behind them lay an extended period of struggle, on the prowl for interesting literature in the closed Estonian society and anxiety in the search for his own voice, which would correspond to his inner life.
When Nora returned, Für Alina had been created, the little piano piece that in its simplicity bore the seed to all music thenceforth composed by Pärt.
Tõnu Kaljuste, founder of The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and former chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir has spent more time than most in the universe created by Arvo Pärt. It is a world where one single note is sufficient, as long as it is played beautifully enough. A mathematical structure, an ascetic aesthetic – a wholly unique voice, which has become such an integral part of our culture that Pärt in 2018 will be the world’s most performed living composer for the seventh year running. Many describe his music as mythical and meditative. Beautiful sounds, others claim. ”You should never talk too much about music”, says Tõnu Kaljuste, ”it will just be blah, blah, blah”.
For twenty years, the Radio Choir has both premièred and recorded Pärt’s music together with Kaljuste, and they know that, as a singer, you must have the courage to take the lead of the composer, as well as the conductor, when entering this world. It requires great vocal concentration and artistic dedication to give voice to Pärt’s long lines, pure triads and precise developments. ”Each piece is its own world, which opens up to us through the lyrics”, Kaljuste says about his collaboration with Pärt. ”He is very sensitive and demanding and frequently comment on the efforts of the musicians through his imagery. ’Lean into the silence’ Pärt is often heard to say to those who work with his music.”
Around Pärt’s gentle, bearded presence, there are other voices making a racket. Another compatriot, with whom Tõnu Kaljuste has long collaborated closely, is Veljo Tormis who taught Arvo Pärt composition during his years at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn. Tormi’s music has been called magical minimalism, but its folksy, sometimes rowdy and theatrical elements place it at some distance from Pärt’s austere version of minimalism. From the street corners, the dirty, impatient and rowdy vendors shout out their spiel in Luciano Berio’s crazy Cries of London, a cross between theatre and music. And from remote Italian beaches, we hear Petrarca sighing over his lost love, in Lars Johan Werle’s voice, in Canzone 126.
Text: Janna Vettergren
Participants
32 professional choristers make up the Swedish Radio Choir: a unique, dynamic instrument hailed by music-lovers and critics all over the world. The Swedish Radio Choir performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, as well as on tours all over the country and the world. Also, they are heard regularly by millions of listeners on Swedish Radio P2, Berwaldhallen Play and globally through the EBU.
The award-winning Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš was appointed Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir in 2020. Since January 2019, its choirmaster is French orchestral and choral conductor Marc Korovitch, with responsibility for the choir’s vocal development.
The Swedish Radio Choir was founded in 1925, the same year as Sweden’s inaugural radio broadcasts, and gave its first concert in May that year. Multiple acclaimed and award-winning albums can be found in the choir’s record catalogue. Late 2023 saw the release of Kaspars Putniņš first album with the choir: Robert Schumann’s Missa sacra, recorded with organist Johan Hammarström.
Tõnu Kaljuste är bekant för den svenska publiken efter sin tid som Radiokörens chefsdirigent åren 1994–2001. I november 2019 utnämndes han till hedersdirigent för Radiokören, en ensemble som fortfarande står honom nära. Han är konstnärlig ledare för Tallinns kammarorkester och Tallinn Philharmonic Society, chefsdirigent för Nederländska kammarkören och sedan 2004 konstnärlig ledare för estniska operafestivalen Nargen Festival. Kaljuste har bidragit starkt till att öppna de nordiska öronen för musik från de baltiska länderna. Han är en erkänd uttolkare av bland andra Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Alfred Schnittke och Krzysztof Penderecki och har arbetat nära flera av Europas främsta moderna tonsättare. Han grundade med drygt tio års mellanrum Estlands filharmoniska kammarkör och Tallinns kammarorkester, som båda blivit mycket framgångsrika och uppträder på världens stora konsertscener och festivaler. Han har gjort flera prisbelönade inspelningar som Grammy-belönade Adam’s Lament.
Programme
Soloist: Sofia Niklasson, soprano
In Für Alina and Spiegel im Spiegel Arvo Pärt introduced his “tintinnabuli” (from Latin “bell”) technique. Pärt was inspired by the hypnotic, meditative elements of liturgical chant. Pärt is himself deeply religious, and his faith is central to his music. His Magnificat from 1989 is another example of tintinnabuli. According to conductor Paul Hillier it is the work in which Pärt makes the most elegant use of the technique.
”The idea behind tintinnabuli came from a desire for a highly reduced soundscape, which can only be measured in millimetres,” Arvo Pärt’s wife Nora recounts. “The listener ultimately pays full attention. When the music stops this becomes especially poignant as you hear yourself breathe, your heartbeat or the whirr of a lamp.”
Magnificat is written as a single movement divided into sections according to how Pärt has divided up the different voices, almost in the form of alternating solo and ensemble parts. This is how he creates tonal variation in this piece, which is meant to be perceived as a continuous presences, as if time has stopped. The text is sometimes referred to as the Virgin Mary’s song of praise and is taken from the New Testament Gospel of Luke. The words are uttered by Mary during her visit to John the Baptist’s mother Elizabeth while they were both pregnant. It begins: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.”
Text: David Saulesco
Concert length: 1 h 30 min
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