TE DEUM - ARVO PART

YEAR: 1993

LABEL: ECM

TRACK LISTING: Te Deum, Silouans Song, Magnificat, Berliner Messe

IMPRESSIONS: The "Magnificat" from this album is one of my favourite classical pieces bar none. The sheer transcendent feeling I get when listening to the "Magnificat" (as well as all other compositions by Arvo Part) is really indescribable. This is music of the spirit.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Te Deum, Magnificat

FACT SHEET: TE DEUM is a setting of the latin "Te Deum" text attributed to St. Ambrose, St. Hilary and St. Augustine. The piece was commissioned in 1984 to be set to music by composer Arvo Part. This recording features the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Part's music bears a closer resemblance to early Christian music and Renaissance polyphonic masses than anything done in music for the last 300 years. Part uses "tintinnabuli" which is an harmonic system which differs from Western music: a chosen musical triad circles a melody line in a predetermined fashion so that it relates to the melody line in a way determined by the composer. Part's music has often been called "minimalist" and has a particular circling quality which can almost be hypnotic. The works on the TE DEUM album are for orchestra and combined voices. Arvo Part only composes religious music expressly dedicated to God. Part commented that his composition sought to express a mood that "...could be infinite in time -- out of the flow of infinity. I had to draw this music gently out of silence and emptiness."