Search - Arvo Part, Paavo Järvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra :: Arvo Part: Pro & Contra / Symphonies 1 + 2

Fans of Arvo Part's gorgeous brand of minimalism--all soft, neo-medieval and tintinablular--will be enormously surprised by this program. The six pieces were composed before his re-examination and re-emergence in 1976, after a five-year period of silence. They are what one thinks of when one thinks of a certain variety of fascinating, if noisy and vaguely unpleasant "modern" music, the type of work one expects to hear led by Pierre Boulez. In other words, we are dealing here with atonality, experimentalism, and serialism. There are huge sonic clusters designed to upset, and statements about music are made by the music itself. The opening piece, Pro & Contra, essentially a concerto for cello, begins with a lovely D major chord which is immediately followed by a huge crash of dissonance; it is shocking and it ismeant to be. The Second Symphony features the sounds of kid's squeaky toys. The brief piece from Part's student period, "Meie aed," is for girl's choir and is entirely gentle and tonal--a grand piece of Soviet goodness. "Perpetuum Mobile" is a seven-minute crescendo which can knock you off your seat. The playing and singing, under Paavo Jarvi, are spectacular. In brief, this is not the Part you've come to know and love, but it's fascinating to hear what he was like before he became who he was. --Robert Levine