The symphonies

"His technique of "tintinnabulation" ... allowed Pärt to bring familiar melodic shapes and tonal harmonies into a totally new musical world. But before that stylistic sea change, Pärt had been a very different kind of composer, producing the first 12-note music ever composed in his native Estonia (in 1960) ... This disc, definitively conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste ... is the first to include all four of Pärt's symphonies, and hence traces the early part of that stylistic journey ... Kaljuste and his orchestra are just as convincing when placidly unwrapping those bundles of archaic-sounding melody, as he is confronting the angularities and contrapuntal clashes of the earlier works".

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"This first complete recording of all of Arvo Pärt's symphonies amounts to aesthetic time travel. From his avant-garde beginnings to his deliciously enchanting tintinnabuli-style minimalism, they cover the major stages of the Estonian composer's work. It's great to have the symphonies of one of the most recorded contemporary composers all in one place, especially in these commendable performances by the Wroclaw Philharmonic under Tõnu Kaljuste. That said, the symphonies are neither the most distinctive nor the best of Pärt's work".

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"Det er en lang og intens rejse at lytte sig fra tolvtonemusikken i 1. symfoni, hvor Pärt stadig gik på konservatoriet - til 4. symfoni, 'Los Angeles', fra 2008, hvor den modne verdensstjerne folder hele repertoiret ud i stram, systematisk velklang ... Fornøjelsen er samtidig stor med det polske orkester under estiske Tõnu Kaljuste, der med en lang række indspilninger på ECM har udviklet sig til at være Arvo Pärts primære fortolker og nære samarbejdspartner. Albummet klinger skarpt og pågående med et energisk drev, der får den intense musik til at leve".

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"Symfonierne er en gren af Arvo Pärts produktion, som har fået for lidt opmærksomhed ... Selvom Tõnu Kaljuste giver symfonien [Nr. 4] en meget klarere profil end Esa-Pekka Salonen, [og] også styrer de øvrige symfonier målrettet og sikkert, mangler der lidt orkestral vælde og dynamik, måske fordi Kaljuste første og fremmest er kordirigent ... Det bliver interessant at se, hvilken status de fire symfonier får i fremtiden. Den største udfordring er vel, at Arvo Pärt har etableret sig så stærkt hos publikum med helt andre værktyper".

"The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, led by Tōnu Kaljuste, propel [the First Symphony] onward, drawing a shape from the swirling sonic mass ... The Fourth (2008) owes as much to silence as it does to sound - a reality neatly observed by Kaljuste".

"Some 45 years separate Arvo Pärt's first and fourth symphonies; and a world separates them in terms of expression. The Wrocław orchestra traverses both languages with supreme confidence, caught in a demonstration standard recording ... The second symphony (1966), like the first, is fundamentally dodecaphonic, but quotes a Tchaikovsky piano piece towards the end to powerful effect. The third symphony (1971) is a transitional work, far more tonal and Church-Slavonic influenced. The more recent fourth symphony, Los Angeles (2008), speaks in a concentrated, profound and interior manner, beautifully presented".

"CDs des Monats: Tonu Kaljuste [setzt] mit dem Breslauer Orchester jetzt eine hochkonzentrierte, stärker auf die Bewegungsimpulse hörende, in den Details aufgefeiltere Deutung [in den Vierten, dann Salonen] ... Auch die anderen Sinfonien bring Kaljuste mit den Gespür des Pärt-Kenners auf den Punkt ... Der Reiz des Archaischen, die Wonnen der Mystik sind bei Kaljuste allemal Grösser".