Beata viscera - Perotin (ca. 1200)
Psalom - Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
Missa Syllabica - Kyrie, Gloria – Arvo Pärt
Veni creator spiritus - Guillaume de Machaut (d. 1377)
Missa Syllabica – Credo – Arvo Pärt
Alma redemptoris mater - anon. (chant) C11
Wallfahrtslied – Arvo Pärt
Alma redemptoris mater - Guillaume Dufay (d. 1474)
Missa Syllabica - Sanctus, Agnus, Ite – Arvo Pärt
Benedicamus Domino - Anon. Italian C14
Stond wel moder under roode Anon. English C14
Stabat Mater – Arvo Pärt
Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices has had a long and warm working relationship with Arvo Pärt. This progam is rooted in Paul Hillier’s very first experience of Pärt’s music. It is not however intended as the illustration of an idea, but rather as a concert of musical items that suit each other, both in contrast and similarity. There is an underlying sympathy between the two aesthetics at work, even though Pärt’s belongs to our time, and the medieval does not - except insofar as we make it contemporary whenever we perform it.
Broadly speaking this program is a synthesis of Pärt and early medieval music. The medieval pieces are chosen to reflect the influence of that sound-world on Pärt’s music and the technique he created called ‘tintinnabuli’. There is perhaps no other kind of music which so perfectly fits with Pärt’s than this kind of selection of chant and early polyphony. The listener will also notice that many of the works (though not all) reflect upon the theme of Mary the Mother of God.
Else Torp, soprano
William Purefoy, counter tenor
Chris Watson, tenor
Paul Hillier, bass & artistic director
Harry Traksmann, violin
Juta Ounapuu, violin
Torsten Tiebout, viola
Leho Karin, cello