Two arrangements of Pärt's Fratres take up most of the first half of the album, the versatile composition first being performed by Gidon Kremer on violin and Keith Jarrett on piano, foreshadowing greater input by Jarrett to ECM's new classical sub-label. The piece's haunting sequences of chords and interlocking harmonies are also performed by the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. In between is one of Pärt's most famous orchestral pieces, the sublime Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten. To finish the album, the aforementioned premiere recording of Tabula Rasa is in two parts: just under ten minutes of fiendish string canons and cadenzas, then a wide-open, heavenly expanse of prepared piano and gorgeous orchestration.
pw: sgtg
