Tabula Rasa Gidon Kremer (violin), Tatiana Grindenko (violin), Alfred Schnittke (prepared piano), Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra/Saulus Sondeckis ECM 476 3878
The ECM label, through its founder Manfred Eicher, is in great part responsible for Pärt reaching a broader non-classical listenership. This inaugural ECM Pärt recording features three of his most important and enduring works: Fratres, Cantus and Tabula Rasa.
Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem The Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier ECM 837 1092
When Pärt first heard the Hilliard Ensemble perform his St John Passion under Paul Hillier’s direction, he wept at the purity of their intervals and the perfection of their rendering. An ideal recording.
• A guide to Arvo Pärt's life and music
• A review of Polyphony's Arvo Pärt album
Te Deum Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra/Tõnu Kaljuste ECM 439 1622
The first of several ECM recordings with the outstanding Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Tõnu Kaljuste, features several major and memorable works: Te Deum, Magnificat, Silouan’s Song and the Berliner Messe.
Alina Various artists ECM 449 9582
This recording is indispensable both as an excavation to the 1976 origins of tintinnabuli, and as an album to hear, and get lost in, endlessly. Just two sparse and simple compositions here, in multiple subtly-varying renderings. Their copious use in film soundtracks becomes understandable, if not entirely forgivable.
• A review of Für Alina and Spiegel im Spiegel
• A review of Franz Welser-Möst's recording of Pärt's Symphony No. 3
Adam’s Lament Latvian Radio Choir, Vox Clamantis, Riga Sinfonietta, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir & Tallinn Chamber Orchestra/Tõnu Kaljuste ECM 476 4825
Pärt’s most recent major work, Adam’s Lament, is a dramatic setting of the eponymous text by St Silouan the Athonite, a 20th-century starets whose influence on Pärt is incalculably large. The disc, which won a Grammy for Best Choral Performance, closes with two irresistible lullabies.
Tintinnabuli The Tallis Scholars Gimmell CDGIM049
Pärt has made an indelible mark on contemporary choral singing. The Tallis Scholars’ deep experience with both Renaissance and Russian Orthodox music inform their reverential – and flawless – renderings of one brilliant gem after another.