Pärt, Arvo - Lamentate - Hilliard Ensemble (The)
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE
OPUS REKOMMENDERAR"Profound, rumbling drums, monumental fanfares from trombones and trumpets, and a shattering ascent in pitch and dynamic with the piano's entry create an opening which, to describe it as arresting, would be a major understatement. This is truly overwhelming music and Pärt's vast vision is magnificently captured in absolutely stunning recorded sound. From this enormous opening to the work's ultimate descent into grief and solitude, Alexei Lubimov maintains an unwavering focus, pulling in our attention to the piano in complete accordance with Pärt's wish for it to represent "the one", which "could be a person or perhaps a first-person narrative". The orchestral playing, especially from the brass and percussion of the SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, is magnificent, and Andrey Boreyko guides this entire, epic musical journey with utter assurance."
(International Record Review)
Written for large orchestra and solo piano, and commissioned for a series of live events at Tate Modern, "Lamentate" was inspired by Pärt's encounter with the enormous sculpture "Marsyas", by Bombay-born artist Anish Kapoor. 150 metres long, "Marsyas" filled the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall for a year. Named for the Greek satyr flayed alive by the god Apollo, the piece consists of three enormous steel rings joined by a single span of dark red PVC membrane. The colour was intended by the artist to suggest blood and the body, and the sculpture dwarfed the viewer, too large to be viewed in its entirety from any single position: "I wanted to make body into sky", says Kapoor.
The Hilliard Ensemble:
Sarah Leonard, soprano
David James, counter-tenor
Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor
Steven Harrold, tenor
Gordon Jones, baritone
Alexei Lubimov piano
SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
Andrey Boreyko, conductor
Recorded June 2004 and April 2005