Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa / Fratres

The works on Viktoria Mullova’s new album devoted to Arvo Pärt’s music for violin stem from the composers study of medieval church music, and are products of what Arvo Pärt himself describes as a ‘tintinnabuli’ style, developed by the composer in the 1970s through studying medieval church music ‘I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me. I work with very few elements – with one voice, two voices. I build with primitive materials – with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells and that is why I call it tintinnabulation.’

They have become some of the most iconic pieces in the contemporary repertoire and have reached out way beyond the usual ‘classical’ music world in their popularity. This album was recorded in the presence of the composer.

Pärt:
 Darf ich…
 Fratres for Violin & Orchestra
 Passacaglia
 Silentium (from Tabula rasa)
 Spiegel im Spiegel

Tijdens een interview noemde de Russische violiste Viktoria Mullova het werk van Arvo Pärt de hedendaagse muziek die haar het meest inspireerde. En dat is te horen. Tijdens een live-uitvoering in Zürich met het Estonian National Symphony Orchestra onder leiding van Paavo Järvi liet ze het publiek volgens Bachtrack volkomen ‘excited’ achter. Begrijpelijk, na het beluisteren van deze cd. Mullova geeft bekende werken als Fratres en Tabula Rasa een rauw randje, alsof een zigeunerviolist in complete extase zijn devotie belijdt.

"This is not music that hinges on sudden shifts and sharp contrasts. However, at its core lies the age-old dichotomy between freedom and control, head and heart…Mullova brilliantly manages to tease out these dichotomies on this new recording…In Fratres, she approaches each variation from a different angle. Sap and rosin fly off the bow in the coruscating arpeggio figurations of the opening chord sequence."
Gramophone Magazine Awards Issue - 2018