PÄRT 'Sublime Calculations'

Sublime Calculations
Sansara, Fretwork, Tom Herring, Iestyn Davies
Platoon

“Contemporary classical music has a far broader audience than it would have reached without him” ex-president of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, recently told Andrew Mellor (09/25). This year Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday celebrations are swelling an impressive discography that was once synonymous with the ECM label and the tranquillity of the Hilliard Ensemble. Here, Sansara and Fretwork (on the cusp of their own 40th anniversary) build on that musical inheritance accompanied by John Potter's superb essay reminding us of Part's grounding in ‘early music sensibility.’ Who better to approach Pärt's works than these voices and viols? Where Sansara offers a fresh, bright vocal sound, Fretwork contributes atmospheric new arrangements (by Richard Boothby) in Fratres, Summa, and Stabat Mater, as well as the mesmeric My Heart’s in the Highlands with countertenor Iestyn Davies. Their joint sound-world lending warm clarity to Part's tintinnabuli that will please fans old and new.

Pärt's monumental Stabat Mater (1985) is a highlight: with viols emphasising both the double trio texture and those early music sympathies, especially as this piece starts with un-texted music, as if nodding to the intermittent text underlay of late medieval motets. I once thought they would never be such wonderment as Lynn Dawson‘s opening solo (ECM 09/87) a staggering 38 years ago, but here Daisy Walford and Fretwork find an intimate fragility that reminds me of the graceful revolutions of an orrery, such are the power of Pärt’s mystical textures. [...]

Lastly, in Magnificat Sansara reference the sense of innocence from the memorable King’s College, Cambridge album, IKOS (EMI/1994) but find a more solid outpouring on 'et misericordium,' passionate and powerful but less explosive, and their choral sound throughout is exquisite, listen out for those bass notes. They really are a superb and sensitive vocal ensemble. Highly recommended.

To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone.co.uk (Awards issue 2025)