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Pärt: Piano Music

Album ∙ Classical ∙ 2011

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The Estonian Arvo Pärt is best known for minimalist compositions that are influenced by early music and imbued with a religious or spiritual quality. This album focuses on Pärt’s piano music, and it provides glimpses of different periods of a lengthy career. Early on, Pärt was taken with Russian neoclassicists such as Prokofiev and Shostakovich, and this influence can be heard on “Zwei Sonatinen für Klavier” from the late ‘50s. “Partita,” from 1959, opens with the motoric, atonal “Toccatina,” which is followed by “Fughetta,” an update of baroque music. 1977’s “Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka” is a world apart from the earlier pieces. This work is spare and tonal, and its tempi are never fast. 1977’s “Für Alina” rivets with an even sparer pair of lines, while 2006’s lively “Für Anna Maria” could almost be a pop song. The album closes with a sprawling piece for piano and orchestra, “Lamentate,” an homage to a sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor; it shifts gears a number of times. The Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat is excellent throughout.

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