Sacred Links

Probably the best disk that I have of choral music by Arvo Part and the second by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, this time directed by Paul Hillier and with the participation of Christopher Bowers-Broadbent on organ on some tracks. This selection is titled Da Pacem and is a collection of motets. It can be listened to strictly as chill out music, there is certainly a feeling of peaceas the title would imply but it is also more deeply spiritual and even those who find Part's "holy minimalism" too simplistic can't doubt his sincerity. If anything the choir is in even better voice under Hillier, I would love to hear them in work other than that from their fellow Baltic composers. Listening to this disk having just been exposed to the BBC tv documentary series on sacred music, I was struck by the connection between Part and early practioners in the Notre Dame and even English Tudor styles. That same sense of the transcendent is there and I don't see why in this cynical age it should be felt that such writing is inappropriate or even opportunistic. These Estonian recordings are the ones of Part that I will frequently be returning to, at least as far as his vocal music is concerned.