Par PART ARVO. Fratres (original setting for violin and piano) was commissioned by the Salzburg Festival and premiered on August 17th, 1980 at that very place (violin: Gidon Kremer, piano: Elena Kremer). Composed in Pärt's very own 'Tintinnabuli'-style, this piece allows many different settings because it is not bound to a specific tone color. 'The highest virtue of music, for me, lies outside of its mere sound. The particular timbre of an instrument is part of the music, but it is not the most important element. If it were, I would be surrendering to the essence of the music. Music must exist of itself … two, three notes … the essence must be there, independent of the instruments.' (Arvo Pärt)/ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par PART ARVO. 'I have developed a highly formalised compositional system, which I have been using to write my music for twenty years. Summa is the most strict and enigmatic work in this series', said Arvo Pärt in 1994. The neutral title itself embodies the essence of the content as the work is based on the text of the Latin Credo. The great simplicity of the piece masks its complexity. The underlying rules ensure that on the surface a cycle of continuous change is created while the deep structure possesses an order of stillness. (Saale Kareda) Originally written for four a cappella voices in 1977, the string quartet version dates from 1991./ Répertoire / Quatuor à Cordes

Par PART ARVO. Following an initiative by Princess Caroline of Monaco/Hannover to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the reign of his Highness, Prince Rainier III of Monaco, composer Arvo Pärt was commissioned to compose a work for choir and orchestra. The finished work, Cantique des degrés, received its premiere on 19 November 1999 during a special service in the Cathedral of Monte-Carlo in the presence of the royal family. It was performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique and the opera choir, both of Monte-Carlo, and conducted by Estonian conductor Tõnu Kaljuste. Cantique des degrés is based on Psalm 121 - Je lève mes yeux vers la montagne - and sung in Latin. Pärt's setting comprises eight sung verses of the psalm that lead to a final, hymn-like instrumental coda. The tonalities of the composition progress regularly, ascending stepwise from verse to verse ('cantique des degrés'); but despite this episodic character, the overall mood of the sequences remains consistent. In this way, the two contrasting basic elements of the piece - dynamic motion and balanced repose - are united creating a harmonious whole./ Répertoire / Chœur Mixte [SATB] et Orchestre

Par PART ARVO. 'Estonian Lullaby' pour violon et piano est le nouvel arrangement d'Arvo Pärt de cette délicieuse pièce, extraite de 'Two Lullabies' (UE 32749) composée à l'origine pour deux voix féminines et un piano./ Répertoire / Violon et Piano

Par PART ARVO. Arvo Pärt came across a legend concerning the patriarch Agathon, from the 4th century, in a book containing stories of The Desert Fathers. They take us back to the cradle of Christian monasticism, in the Egyptian desert, the narrative telling of the meeting between the hermit Agathon and the leper. Agathon is tested several times by the leper. Not until after he has passed these tests does the leper reveal himself as an angel sent by God, and blesses Agathon./ Répertoire / Soprano, Alto, Chœur SA et Orchestre à Cordes

Homage to Anish Kapoor and his sculpture 'Marsyas'. Par PART ARVO. Arvo Pärt about Lamentate: 'Lamentate is music for piano solo and orchestra. With respect to its form, however, the composition cannot really be described as a typical piano concerto. I chose the piano to be the solo instrument because it fixes our attention on something that is 'one'. This 'one' could be a person, or perhaps a first-person narrative. Just as the sculpture leaves the viewer with a light and floating impression in spite of its overwhelming size, the piano, as a large instrument, allowed me to create a sphere of intimacy and warmth that no longer seems anonymous or abstract. Overall, it could be said that my work is marked by two diametrically opposed moods. By way of slight exaggeration, I would characterize these two poles as being 'brutal-overwhelming' and 'intimate-fragile'. The two characters are not simply placed opposite one another, much rather being left to develop themselves in a conflict that runs throughout the entire work.'/ Répertoire / Piano et Orchestre

Par PART ARVO. Arvo Pärt wrote the prayer of peace Da pacem Domine to fulfil a commission from Jordi Savall. He began to set this ninth-century Gregorian antiphon two days after the Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 as his personal tribute to the victims. Since then Da pacem Domine has been performed every year in Spain to commemorate the victims of this terrorist attack. Even while originally composing this four-voice piece, Pärt made allowances for variable scorings. As a result, it exists in several versions, not only for voice but also entirely for instruments. Wolfgang Sandner Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris quia non est alius qui pugnet pro nobis nisi tu Deus noster./ Répertoire / Orchestre à Cordes

Par PART ARVO. I have developed a highly formalised compositional system, which I have been using to write my music for twenty years. Summa is the most strict and enigmatic work in this series, said Arvo Pärt in 1994. The neutral title itself embodies the essence of the content as the work is based on the text of the Latin Credo. The great simplicity of the piece masks its complexity. The underlying rules ensure that on the surface a cycle of continuous change is created while the deep structure possesses an order of stillness. Saale Kareda/ Répertoire / Choeur SATB ou Soliste

Par PART ARVO. Inspired by his visit to Fátima, scene of a famous Marian Apparition in 1917, Arvo Pärt wrote a small choral piece based on a passage from Psalm 8.3 “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”. The choral piece is dedicated to painter Gerhard Richter and first premiered in Basel (CH) in 2014./ Répertoire / Chœur Mixte [SATB] a Capella

Par PART ARVO. This piece is Pärt's tribute to Benjamin Britten who died in 1976. Arvo Pärt: In the past years we have had many losses in the world of music to mourn. Why did the date of Benjamin Britten's death - 4 December 1976 - touch such a chord in me? During this time I was obviously at the point where I could recognize the magnitude of such a loss. Inexplicable feelings of guilt, more than that even, arose in me. I had just discovered Britten for myself. Just before his death I began to appreciate the unusual purity of his music - I had had the impression of the same kind of purity in the ballads of Guillaume de Machaut. And besides, for a long time I had wanted to meet Britten personally - and now it would not come to that. 'The last chord of Cantus is seemingly never-ending. It just stands there, neither growing nor decaying. Something has been achieved and it shouldn't be given up. The content of the whole work leads up to this point.' Nora Pärt/ Répertoire / Orchestre à Cordes et Cloche