Arvo Part-Music for Organ

On this CD:

1. Toccata for organ, Op. 59
Composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

2. Light and Dark, for organ
Composed by Sofiya Gubaydulina
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

3. Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler, for organ
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

4. Trivium, for organ
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

5. Laudatio Trinitatis, for organ
Composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

6. Annum per annum, for organ
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

7. ta tou theou, for organ, Op. 30
Composed by Einojuhani Rautavaara
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

8. Pari intervallo, for organ
Composed by Arvo Part
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

9. Cantata, for organ, Op 26
Composed by Henryk Gorecki
Performed by Kevin Bowyer

Tracks:

Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten
Summa
The Beatitudes - Stephen Cleobury
Fratres (Version VI) - The London Philharmonic
Festina Lente
Magnificat - Stephen Cleobury
De profundis - Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Tabula Rasa: Silentium

Customer Reviews:

Old World Sound to Calm the Senses.......2007-01-03

Beautiful, pure, and often heavenly are my select words to describe this CD.

NOT OF THIS WORLD.......2004-08-31

Tabula Rasa: Silentium : This music is not of this world. I worship/pray in silence while driving with this music on with a palm facing the windshield. The haunting, surreal background...the two main violins mournfully cries out aloud...yet so beautiful...my heart cries with them.

Spare brilliance.......2003-01-08

Spending a lot of words describing Pärt's music seems like defeating the purpose. It is transcendent, haunting, solemn, quiet, and all the other things the other reviewers say. I view it, stylistically, as somewhere between the minimalism of Glass et al, and the ambient textures of Steve Roach -- if that description makes any sense. I find myself a little more at home with his instrumental pieces than his choral work, but that's just personal preference.

This is a good first Pärt CD -- then you can move on to other works, especially his Te Deum.

Magnificat: Magnificent!.......2002-08-05

I realize the title of this review is pretty silly, but I had to think of something.
I have always enjoyed classical music, but not nearly as much as other genres... that is until a friend of mine gave me SANCTUARY. I listen to it all the time now. The genius of Arvo Part's music is that although it is quite somber, it is very beautiful. I think that if you don't like classical music now, you will once you listen to Arvo Part. My favourite piece is Magnificat, hence the title.

If you only buy one Pärt CD, buy this one.......2002-02-21

This exquisite recording is an "Arvo Pärt Sampler" that provides a great introduction to this wonderful composer. I bought it because it contains his two best-known short choral works, the Beatitudes and the Magnificat. The performances by the choir of King's College Cambridge are transcendent, as usual; it is very difficult to achieve the serenity of sound needed to communicate Pärt's music, but King's is perfect for it. The instrumental works are samples of Pärt's greatest hits including an especially heart-rending performance of the Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten.

Tracks:

Te Deum
Silouans Song
Magnificat
Berliner Messe: Kyrie
Berliner Messe: Gloria
Berliner Messe: Erster Alleluiavers
Berliner Messe: Zweiter Alleluiavers
Berliner Messe: Veni Sancte Spiritus
Berliner Messe: Credo
Berliner Messe: Sanctus
Berliner Messe: Agnus Dei

Amazon.com essential recording

Though these pieces are typical of Pärt's style, they seem less bleak than those on previous discs. The Te Deum, while often in a minor tonality and sometimes imposing, has a suitable extroverted quality; the Magnificat, with its hushed intensity, does seem solemn, but its cadences are striking, typically resolving from a tonal chord to a shimmering major-second dissonance. The Berliner Messe includes not only the Mass ordinary, but also three propers for Pentecost, and displays a range of moods from nervous penitence in the Kyrie to lively good cheer in the Credo to serenity in the Agnus Dei. Best is the sequence "Veni sancte spiritus," sung largely in unison to a haunting 6/8 melody. Tiny Estonia, Pärt's homeland, has provided him with some impressive interpreters. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful, Soulful, Choral Work.......2007-01-31

Although my main genre of music is derived from the 60's, 70's rock and pop music, I also spent many Sundays attending church and listening to the work of the choir. I would say that I have a strong spiritual side, and so Arvo Part touched this part of my heart. I heard it on NPR when they were asking listeners for the albums that were essential in their collection. The person commented that this music centered them. I listened to the entire album on the radio on a Saturday night, even though I was about to head out to listen to other types of music.

The music is beautiful, soulful, and spiritual. The choral harmonies sound something like Thomas Tallis, but has instrumentation supporting the choir. The music is very slow and uses "silence" as part of the work. So be prepared to be put into a meditative state - one where peace is felt. A truly awesome piece of music.

Don't come to this music empty..........2006-06-10

My opinion of much of the spiritual minimalist music that may be criticised as dull, boring, incomplete, or whatever adjective you care to insert, is that unlike the "great" music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc, this spiritual music requires you to bring something to it to have meaning. Anyone can listen to Mozart and get pretty much the same thing from it because it's perfect and complete. There's nothing more to add. And that's why I can't stand it. Like vanilla ice cream, the great German masters serve as nothing but a center for music to expand away from.

However, where one can put on Silouans Song and hear a dull film score, others can meditate on the music and be moved beyond words. The "inaudible" Berliner Messe concludes with the Agnus Dei. I will never escape the memory of listening to the piece at night under the stars next to a high alpine lake in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Agnus Dei section is as cold as ice, as bare as outer space, and with the Dona Nobis Pacem it melts, while keeping the melodic line of the first section, into the most comforting, heart-warming music. Atheist that I am, I can't help but feel that I'm not alone. Listen to it under the stars in the wilderness.

The major work, the Te Deum, is incredible in its own way. You cannot hear the music begin, but gradually become aware of what I assume is a piano string being played with a mallet. The sound reappears throughout the work, and at the huge climax you feel almost as if airplanes are taking off in the church. The ending, repeated statements of "Sanctus", fades out in almost as beautiful a manner as the Agnus Dei of the mass ends. Almost, but not quite.

There isn't another living composer like Part, and this is one of the finest discs of his music.

Gentle introduction to Pärt; terrible recording.......2006-02-14

If you've not previously listened to Pärt's music, this is a reasonable place to start. I prefer Tabula Rasa, however, and suggest that as a better alternative.

Unfortunately, the recording quality of the title work is atrocious. At several points, the vocals swell to aching levels...and just then, the sound is reduced to ear tearing distortion. No, folks, that isn't the power of an omnipotent, imaginary friend reaching through your stereo; that's really bad level setting.

Here's hoping ECM sees fit to make a proper recording of this one.

My first Part of all Part's.......2006-02-08

I have no idea why I first selected this CD while browsing in a store but I have since used Amazon to order most of Arvo Part's recordings. I am not sure how you would select a favorite -- I would certainly not agree that this is among the worst! I would say it still ranks as one of my favorites. I also agree this music is not for the car! This is certainly for when you want to be contemplative. If you feel rushed and overwhelmed by contemporary life, put on a Part CD and close your eyes and stress will melt away. This music is a ticket to timelessness and peace. Who would have thought a modern composer could have found a way to out do the Medievals this way? Progress has not stopped nor has it ignored our spiritual side.

These works bring to mind the terrifying beauty of God Himself - truly awesome!.......2005-12-01

Arvo Part exhibits absolute mastery of sacred vocal writing. It is the culmination of a millenium of sacred music; as though Tallis, Byrd, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Faure and every other writer of sacred music had simply cleared the way for this man. Part assimilates you into his music in the opening passages and holds you in his powerful grip until after the last phrases have been uttered.

The glory is not given only to the voices, either. These works are also scored for strings and some of the most beautiful passages are given over to them. Dissonance is used throughout in all voices with terrifying beauty and brings to mind what it may be like to behold the presence of God Himself. There are many stunning climaxes that resolve the discord throughout the work - everyone infinitely satisfying and never dull. These are truly works of awe-inspiring proportions, particulary the Te Deum and this does them justice. It will lift your mind and heart and never cease to amaze.

Average customer rating:

It is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful.
Robert Shaw Choruses At Their Best!
Glorious

Gloria: Music of Praise & Inspiration

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The #1 Choral Album

ASIN: B00000DFWF
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Gloria In Excelsis
Sanctus
Glory To God
Awake The Harp
Gloria
Gloria
Sanctus
Heavenly Light
Aeterna Fac
Slava V Vyshnikh Bogu
Sanctus
Gloria
Alleluia
Sanctus
Magnificat

Amazon.com

This compilation features excerpts from some of the greatest sacred works in the literature--including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, and Verdi's Requiem--all led by Robert Shaw. The selections, from recordings made between 1983 and 1997 by Shaw and various ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, are presented more or less in order of their composition, from Vivaldi's Gloria to Arvo Pärt's Magnificat. Especially thrilling is the complete "Gloria" from the Missa solemnis, 17 minutes of sheer grandeur, and the Sanctus movements from the Requiems of Verdi and Maurice Duruflé. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

It is absolutely breath-takingly beautiful........2007-05-15

I enjoyed this CD very much. It is just beautiful music.

Robert Shaw Choruses At Their Best!.......2004-09-20

If Sir Robert were still alive, & breathing, I believe he would be caught-up making music with this awesome, majestic, mystical GLORIA, Sanctus, Hallelujah Masterworks! I lucked-up on this old collection in the few classical CD'S in Best Buy!

At first hearing they sent me back into the 1970's when most of Church Musicians majored in Vivaldi's Gloria, the Sanctus of Bach's B-Minor Mass, the Long, georgeous GLORIA, Missa Solemnis, Beethoven, and incomparable Alleluia by Randall Thompson.

During a visit of Hurricane IVAN'S rushing winds and torrents of rain, I stayed on back roads of Decatur and East Atlanta! Also keeping alert & relaxed listening to Robert Shaw re-inventing his Choral Mystique! In slowly moving traffic of 2++ hours to Fayetteville, I kept alert singing along at 30 mph, wrapped in his quiet heavenly beauty of Koplov's "Heavenly Light!"

That mysteriously spiritual power of glorious choruses provided the same resourceful sounds of his eternal music-making from rehearsals in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Westminster Choir College and Avery Fischer Hall concerts in NYC! (1975-1985)

Only the early 33 1/3 recordings of the Robert Shaw Chorale in his Spirituals and Irish Songs, later Handel's Messiah and Bach B-Minor Mass were forerunners to his awesome listing of repeated Grammy winners, now printed in digital stereo color and sound! Hooray for Sir Robert and his rich chorale legacy... Let's keep them singing for Eternity! Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Glorious.......2000-06-30

If I had to choose one conductor to compile exerpts from the greatest masses and works in choral literature and history, I would only bestow that duty to Robert Shaw and his choruses. Once again he displays his uncanny ability to not only choose beautiful music but also perform it in a spellbinding manner. Even with the pieces the average listener has heard or performed, such as Vivaldi's Gloria or portions of Handel's Messiah, one cannot help but become enthralled with the recordings of Shaw's interpretations of those works. Although Shaw never followed through on his early-life ambition to be a minister, I still believe he does so and perhaps to a greater extent through his music ministry. One cannot help but feel closer to understanding what heaven is about after having finished listening to this CD. This is well worth buying for it will live up to the english interpretation of its Latin title: Glorious.

Average customer rating:

a great combination, part and hilliard
Beautiful and Profound
Power and Grace
Rich, lovely, unmatched music
Classical music is not dead

Arvo Pärt: De Profundis

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Arvo Part: Te Deum / Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
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Tabula Rasa

ASIN: B0000007FL
Release Date: 1997-03-10

Tracks:

De Profundis (Psalm 129)
Missa Sillabica: Kyrie
Missa Sillabica: Gloria
Missa Sillabica: Credo
Missa Sillabica: Sanctus
Missa Sillabica: Angus Dei
Missa Sillabica: Ite missa est
Solfeggio
'And One Of The Pharisees'
Cantate Domino (Psalm 95)
Summa (Credo)
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Weisheit
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Adonai
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Spross
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Schlussel
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Morgenstern
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Konig
Seven Magnificat Antiphons: O Immanuel
The Beatitudes
Magnificat

Amazon.com

Marx and Lenin probably would not have appreciated the irony, but after decades of Communist repression of religion, the former Soviet bloc is the source of a profound outpouring of explicitly Christian expression. This is manifested in the music of such composers as Henryk Gorecki, a Pole, and Arvo Pärt, an Estonian. Part, a refugee from serialism, here writes in a quasi-minimalist style that he calls "tintinnabuli," a sound that echoes medieval composition. A fan of vocal music ("The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all"), he uses choruses to superb effect. This disc includes some of his best work, including the popular Magnificat, beautifully rendered by the Theatre of Voices under Paul Hillier. --Sarah Bryan Miller

Customer Reviews:

a great combination, part and hilliard.......2004-06-21

i purchased this CD recently and was a bit worried. i enjoy part and hillard, but the length of the pieces was often so short. i really enjoy it when part writes long, epic pieces and the vocal work really explores all types of music.

instead, what i found was a collection of many small gems, each of which combine to form the larger work i was looking for. i'm not particularily religious, but i find the deep spiritualism in part's work to be profound and soothing. this disc is no exception, as part and hillaird explore religion, theology and philosophy through music and voice.

this CD is well arranged and orchestrated, and ranks among the best of any of part's works. i've been leary of hearing part work outside of the ECM new series of recordings, but i'm happy i explored. few pairings work as well as hillaird and part, i'm thankful they share their work.

Beautiful and Profound.......2004-02-06

I picked up this wonderful gem on a whim. As sacristan for my Jesuit university campus ministry, I was looking for good and movintg religious music. This surpasses anything being marketed as "liturgical" music for churches.

Part creates music that is beatiful, moving and profound. It transported me to another world; it is a deeply moving experience. Some of these tracks have already become my favorite works of musical art as well as meditative prayers.

Power and Grace.......2002-01-10

Hillier's Theatre of Voices gives an absolutely wonderful rendering of Pärt's work. The music is amazing, recalling medieval choral music as well as contemporary ideas in musical composition. Pärt manages to touch on a wide range of feeling throughout all of these compositions, conveying emotion while maintaining the kind of austerity of sound found in medieval chant. Ultimately, the CD provides a moving and enjoyable listening experience. I would recommend it to both seasoned fans of choral music and neophytes alike.

Rich, lovely, unmatched music.......2001-07-23

This music is gorgeous, whether you think you like choral music or not.

The first time I heard Arvo Part, I was browsing in a music store and stopped to listen with a pair of crummy headphones. The sounds and tone drew me into another world, one made lovely by the rich and carefully-worked composition of a master.

The recording is perfect. The music is like nothing else I've heard, more deeply-felt and inspiring than anything I'm familiar with. I would not call myself a fan of choruses, but Part's work is extraordinary.

Classical music is not dead.......2000-05-18

For anyone who thought that "classical" music had been killed by atonal dissonance or kidnapped into the absurd esoteria of academic abstraction, I recommend the music of Avro Part. Similar in style to another (some would say 'THE' other) great modern composer Gorecki, the music is heavy and religious in tone and absolutely beautiful. I was an immediate convert to Part's music, and, from what I can tell, I am not alone.

Arvo Pärt: Berliner Messe; Magnificat; Summa

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Gorgeous Choral Music by Pärt, Gorgeously Performed

Arvo Pärt: Berliner Messe; Magnificat; Summa

Manufacturer: Naxos
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Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0002TXT5M
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Tracks:

Cantate Domino Canticum Novum
Kyrie
Gloria
Alleluia Verses I & II
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Credo
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
De Profundis
Summa
The Beatitudes
Magnificat

Album Description

With a number of modern classics already to his name, notably the Symphony No. 3, Tabula Rasa, Fratres and Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, culminating in 1982 with his largest work thus far, the St John Passion, Arvo Pärt has during the past 20 years consolidated his reputation as one of the most significant composers at work today with a sequence of magnificent sacred choral works. The present recording provides an overview of Pärt's mature idiom with works written on either side of the Passion, and in which a gradual expressive openingout and harmonic enrichment of the composer's musical vocabulary can be detected. The Magnificat is perhaps Pärt's most immediately appealing choral work whose alternation of solo and tutti sections imparts a powerful spiritual aura.

Customer Reviews:

Gorgeous Choral Music by Pärt, Gorgeously Performed.......2004-12-02

I will be the first to admit that I have not been a particular fan of the trend in contemporary choral music that partakes rather heavily of ancient methods--music like that of Pärt and John Tavener--and have tended to steer clear of them after a few exposures. I liked Pärt's 'St. John Passion' but felt it went on too long and was just a bit monochrome. I have also not been a big fan of trance music, of which some of this music seems to take part. But for some reason I have really responded positively to this release of choral music by Pärt. Perhaps it is because the performances are so wonderful. The Elora Festival Singers are a group made up of professional singers from Toronto, mostly from, I think, Toronto's well-known Mendelssohn Choir. I have been impressed with other recordings they have made and I suppose that's why I gave this CD a listen. Some, or even perhaps all, of these pieces have been recorded before, some several times, and some by such wonderful groups as the Hilliard Ensemble, the group that first recorded the 'St. John Passion.' Perhaps my positive response also has something to do with the fact that there are several shorter pieces here, pieces that one can easily imagine being performed as part of a church service, rather than an evening long work like the Passion. Amazon has not, as of the date of this review, listed the individual pieces included here. They are:

Cantate Domino Canticum Novum (Psalm 95) (1977, rev. 1996)
Berliner Messe (1990-91, rev. 1992)
De Profundis (1980)
Summa (1977)
The Beatitudes (1990, rev. 1991)
Magnificat (1989)

The largest piece here (23 minutes long) is the seven-movement 'Berliner Messe' which exists in several versions. The one here is for string orchestra and choir. The orchestral accompaniment is very spare (and very lovely) and, as with most of Pärt's choral music, the choir sings a kind of extended Gregorian chant with much unison singing but also with austere choral harmonies that often include added-note triadic chords. The effect is prayerful and serene. The 'Credo' is a rewriting of the earlier 'Summa,' which also appears here as a separate piece. In both the 'Credo' and the earlier 'Summa' there is a medieval-sounding etiolation of Lutheran chorale tunes. The 'Agnus Dei' is particularly haunting.

The setting of the 'Psalm 95' ('O sing unto the Lord a new song') is a simple chant-like setting for four-part chorus and organ with changing harmonies and spare organ accompaniment. 'De Profundis' ('Out of the depths I have called unto Thee') does indeed rise out of the depths, with tenors and basses intoning the main theme; quiet bass drum strokes and a recurring single tubular chime note against a wavering organ ostinato create an incantatory effect. 'The Beatitudes' and 'Magnificat' (the latter possibly the most performed of all of Pärt's choral pieces) are in like vein. The seven-minute 'Magnificat' alternates solo and choral sections and perhaps provides a bit more contrast than others of his works.

Although I have not heard other recordings of these pieces, I cannot praise too highly the limpid, lightly inflected, and reverent singing of the Elora Festival Singers, along with the excellent support of their partners, the Elora Festival Orchestra and organist Jürgen Petrenko, led by their conductor (and Elora founder) Noel Edison. This is music-making at the highest level.

Recommended.

Scott Morrison

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After TABULA RASA, the next stop for fans of Part's "holy minimalism"
An excellent recording of sacred music
Pärt on song, yet somehow neglected
An icy wind of delicious sadness
Some gems

Arvo Pärt: Arbos

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000260TR
Release Date: 2000-01-25

Tracks:

Arbos
An den Wassern zu Babel
Pari Intervallo
De Profundis
Er sang vor langen Jahren
Summa
Arbos
Stabat Mater

Amazon.com essential recording

This CD features some great performances by Pärt specialists of a variety of shorter works. The clamorous Arbos for brass makes a startling opening for those who expect abstracted reverence; the lament, An den Wassern, has a startling ending that builds in intensity and volume only to break off midphrase. The static Pari Intervallo for organ leads into De Profundis, with its sense of slow but unstoppable movement (every note the same length, every measure the same rhythm). Es Sang has an unexpectedly lilting tune for solo alto, punctuated by string exclamations; Summa is a straightforward Pärt-style setting of the Credo. Arbos is repeated (this is oddly satisfying), and the disc closes with a masterpiece, the unbearably sad Stabat Mater for three voices and three strings. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

After TABULA RASA, the next stop for fans of Part's "holy minimalism".......2007-06-22

This ECM disc is an important document of the work of Estonian composer Arvo Part, containing as it does a number of important early pieces from the composer's "tintinnabuli" phase. If the earlier TABULA RASA on the same label is the traditional entry point into this style, ARBOS is where one should head next. And as with all ECM discs, the performers are Part's hand-picked men, giving a definitive sheen to the recordings.

Those who have heard the TABULA RASA disc are familiar with "Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten" for bell and strings. That's a mensuration canon, where various instrumental parts play a descending scale in different speeds, but it is peaceful and contemplative. On this disc "Arbos" for 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, and percussion (1977) takes the same form, but with very different instrumentation, a faster tempo, and louder dynamics it obtains a very different sound. Those who think of Part only as a creator of calm moods will be surprised indeed by this piece which turns the basics of tintinnabuli writing towards a troubled, though fairly static, surface. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart conducted by Dennis Russell Davies gives a confident performance.

The other pieces here are performed by the Hilliard Ensemble. "Pari Intervallo" for organ (1976) does with that instrument what "Fur Alina" did with piano, display the sound of tinntinabuli in the simplest possible form. It's notable for being Part's calmest piece for organ; others are somewhat monsters.

The title of "An den Wassern zu Babel" for trombone and chamber orchestra (1986) refers to the well-known psalm, but instead of merely setting the text Part communicates the soul of the Israelites' lament though anguished vocalizations. The a capella "Summa" (1986), on the other hand, sets the Nicene Creed without any emotional edge whatsoever, letting the listener soberly listen to its theological truths, a good counter to, say, the Glagolitic Mass of Janacek.

"De Profundis" for male chorus, percussion & organ (1980) sets Psalm 130. While the chorus and percussion range everywhere through the seven-minute length of the piece, the organ maintains a slow ostinato much like in "Pari Intervallo".

Though Part usually sets Biblical or liturgical texts, "Es sang vor langen Jahren" for counter-tenor or alto with violin & viola (1984) is a setting of a poem by Clemens Brentano talking of a human lover and a nightingale. The music is fairly standard Part, though. Perhaps a little too standard, for I have a hard time enjoying this piece, which doesn't do much to stand out.

"Stabat Mater" (1987) is at 25 minutes the longest piece on the disc, and one of Part's greatest achievements. A setting of the well-known hymn, it consists of alternating sections focusing either on chorus or the violin, here performed by the great Gidon Kremer. The text telling of the Theotokos sorrowfully gazing at Christ on the Cross is, as one can expect, set solemnly indeed, but surprising are the joyful dance-like cadences led by the violin that break in.

While most of the music here is mainstream tintinnabuli, "An den Wassern zu Babel" (1976) is unusual, coming after Part's creative silence but not squaring with his new style. It displays the composer's interest in medieval music, and is closer to his Symphony No. 3 of several years previously than to "Fur Alina" written the same year and the tintinnabuli pieces that have followed.

One regrets that ECM places "Arbos" here twice--the label is infamous for rarely putting together enough material to nicely fill a disc. That and the presence of the frankly dull "Es sang for langen Jahren" causes me to subtract a star. Nonetheless, those who have heard TABULA RASA and want to head deeper into Part's singular soundworld are highly encouraged to check out this disc which, as a fellow reviewer noted, is strangely neglected.

An excellent recording of sacred music.......2007-03-22

This was the first Arvo Pärt recording I ever heard. I think that was around 1993? I heard the Stabat Mater on a long drive from Melbourne to Ballarat, where I was performing in a midday concert of Renaissance and Baroque music as a part of an Arts festival held in that great country city.
I was alone in the car, listening to ABC Classic FM, as always, and I heard all of the Statbat Mater. I was captivated by this poignant, sublime and beautiful music. The three soloists, soprano, countertenor and tenor, sing the music with great style and beauty. The melodic lines seem to be weightless and float through each other in a very graceful way. The work is accompanied by a small group of string instruments.

I bought the recording when I got back to Melbourne and it has been a favourite of mine ever since. I also bought the Hilliard Ensemble's recording of the Pärt St. John Passion, commonly known as the Passio.

Lovers of the music of John Tavener and Henryk Gorecki, who haven't heard any of Pärt's music will be in for a very pleasant surprise.

Pärt on song, yet somehow neglected.......2006-06-09

This disc, one of many ECM recordings of the music of Arvo Pärt, has often seemed to be rather neglected compared to the higher profile Tabula Rasa or Alina (just compare the number of reader reviews of those discs to this one). Yet it's a disc that contains one of the composer's finest works (Stabat Mater) and a collection of shorter pieces that show him to great advantage.

The brass-and-percussion fanfare Arbos is a brief, rapid series of descending scalic melodies overlaid in a canonic structure similar to that of Pärt's justly famous Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten (the sound of bells is also prominent in both works). Though much more active on the surface--and louder--than the more famous work, Arbos has the same static overall feel. It is succeeded by An den Wassern zu Babel, a setting for organ and four voices of the Waters of Babylon passage from Psalm 137. Probably the most stylistically complex work on this disc (dating from 1976, it forms a transitional work between the Third Symphony and Pärt's mature minimalism), it is unusually dissonant for the composer, and bears the influence of Sibelus and the liturgical Stravinsky as well as Pärt's love of early music. Though dating from the same year, the organ elegy Pari Intervallo is a much simpler work, slowly rocking between consonances on its serene path.

The next three works all date from the early maturity of Pärt's minimalist style. The gently ritualistic De Profundis layers triadic harmonies in the upper voices over the organ and bass voice, Es sang von langen Jahren restricts development mostly to the alto range (alto singing with the accompaniment of violin and viola), and the four-voice Summa is perhaps one of the most characteristic examples of Pärt's tintinnabular harmonies and slow-moving minimalism.

After a second performance of Arbos, the disc closes with the main focus of the disc, the Stabat Mater for three voices and string trio. This work, written for the 50th anniversary of Alban Berg's death (like another late 20th century masterpiece, Alfred Schnittke's string trio), extends the procedures of the previous works over 25 minutes--adding passages of great dramatic intensity to contrast the more minimalist sections.

Though I am far from an uncritical admirer of Pärt's work, I think this disc is an excellent selection of his music. If ultimately I have returned to the Stabat Mater much more often than the shorter works which precede it, this is as much as tribute to its qualities as to any failings on the part of the other works on the disc.

An icy wind of delicious sadness .......2004-08-17

Arvo Part creates a world where bleakness becomes almost an indulgence, and upon the first hearing of Stabat Mater you'll feel an icy wind of delicious sadness blow over your eager and expectant frown. The solo organ piece Pari Intervallo (which can also be found on the purely organ album Trivium), is a study in restrained and sterile beauty, meaning that the piece (and most of the tintinnabuli pieces) doesn't crash and bellow and forcefully announce its intent, but whispers it in cold hintings. As for myself, I will not hint: buy this album now.

Some gems.......2002-02-10

All of this music was new to me before listening to this disc. I assume the performances are definitive, so the issue is, how attractive is the music itself? To me the winner on this CD is track 4, De Profundis, almost 7 minutes of austere beauty for organ, small choir and remarkably effective percussion (bell and gong). Track 6, the Summa (Credo) is nice, but the music seems to be content to create a somewhat mystical mood, and does not reflect the text (like many mass Credos do). The major work on the disc is track 8, the Stabat Mater, a very austere piece. It has not won me over yet.

Average customer rating:

Two mainstream tintinnabuli pieces and one peculiar oddity
Music for Solace, for the Soul, for Contemplation
Not serene
The Beauty of Absence
Very special, but not the best introduction to Part

Miserere

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Lamentate
Litany
Arvo Part: Kanon Pokajanen
Arvo Pärt: De Profundis
Tabula Rasa

ASIN: B000024ZBC
Release Date: 2000-03-07

Tracks:

Miserere
Festina Lente
Sarah Was Ninety Years Old

Customer Reviews:

Two mainstream tintinnabuli pieces and one peculiar oddity.......2007-06-13

For over two decades ECM has been issuing disc after disc of Arvo Part's music to much acclaim, but MISERERE remains one of the more neglected such releases. Sure, there's nothing here that forms such a concise example of his mature output as on the legendary Tabula Rasa disc, but the three pieces here are nonetheless engaging. Plus, the performers here are world-class (and Part's own favourites): the Hilliard Ensemble on the two vocal pieces, featuring among others virtuoso organist Christopher Broadbent-Bowers and percussionist Pierre Favre, and the Beethovenhalle Orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies in the piece for strings.

Clocking in at over half an hour, "Misere" for soloists, chorus, ensemble, and organ (1989) is one of Part's longest pieces. Mainly a setting of Psalm 51, the piece begins with the tenor intoning the psalm with the simplest accompaniment, and expands to include a counter-tenor and a few more instruments. Several minutes in, however, the full force of the choir and ensemble is unleashed as portions of the "Dies Irae" are included, before returning to a calmer mood and the text of the psalm. Usually this sort of soft-loud-soft transition is obnoxious--I'm thinking of composers such as Kancheli who do it all the time--but here it is quite moving. An usual touch in the loud section is the use of electric guitar and bass. It's interesting that for this generation of Soviet composers (Part alongside Gubaidulina and Schnittke) these instruments are exploited for darker or more threatening moods. At two thirds of the way through the music begins to sound outright joyful and ends on the same uplifting mood that the psalm does.

"Festina Lente" (1988-1990) is a mensuration canon, making it similar to the loud passage of "Misere" as well as earlier pieces such as "Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten" and "Arbos". Now, those latter two were slow and fast, respectively, but in "Festina Lente" Part expresses the mood of the title ("Make haste slowly") but keeping a slow tempo but adding a lot of spiky eighth notes. The lack of a brass makes the piece unusually lush for Part, making it seem in the end like a more contemplative Rautavaara. The piece is entertaining, but one can't help that Part is repeating himself.

The last piece on the disc is rather strange. "Sarah was Ninety Years Old" for soprano, 2 tenors, organ & percussion (1977) was written after Part ended his long silence in the 1970s and introduced his new tintinnabuli technique, but it itself is not a tintinnabuli piece. Most of the work consists of slow rhythms beaten out by the percussion that symbolize the many years that Sarah was barren, though at a couple of points the tenors intervene for a few minutes. Only towards the very end of the twenty-five minute span, however, do the soprano and organ enter. Certain portions of the piece are engaging; the percussion reminds me of Norgard's "Waves" and the writing for soprano is wild. However, when Part seeks to express dreary waiting, the audience is going to get rather bored as well. This is quite a curiosity, however, so the Part fan should check it out even if it's an unsuccessful work.

If you are looking for an introduction to Arvo Part, the famed Tabula Rasa disc is probably the best one. Nonetheless, you might find yourself enraptured by his soundworld, and the other ECM discs, including this one, would make a good addition to your collection.

Music for Solace, for the Soul, for Contemplation.......2005-02-21

Arvo Part fills a void in the musical network of contemporary compositions. He creates much out of little, using minimal notes and phrases, repeating these with subtle variations, as though he were creating an atmosphere for Zen-like trance states.

The three works here recorded with utmost clarity and restraint are from Part's deeply religious vein. The 'Miserere' emerges from the silence of the depths of the earth and transcends the human supplicants to become a pathway to the ethereal presence that in this realm is guardian to us all. The Hilliard Ensemble performs with radiant perfection. The 'Feste Lente' is an adagio for strings with ad libitum harp and is quiet and simple and in direct communication with the spirit. The final work 'Sarah was ninety years old' is more a cross between Buddhist intonations and Gregorian chant than anything else. This seems like music written for the high spaces in the domes of Europe's largest cathedrals, the area where the sounds of light distant winds suggest the flutter of angel wings. And Part achieves all of this with three solo voices, organ and timpani.

Perhaps saving this recording for darkened rainy afternoons brings this otherworldly music to life in an even more poetic way. There is an affinity for the transparency and repetition of notes in these works that marries well with birthing clouds and the rain that comes and goes. For soothing the soul this is one viable source. Grady Harp, February 2005

Not serene.......2004-09-10

The enclosed booklet states that Pärt's music is "unaffected by the...techniques...offered us in luxurious array by the music industry...his work remains pure and unpretentious." This last especially is true, but the ECM production enhances the power of these works immeasurably through a recording technique often used in pop music to make a singer's voice sound stronger and fuller. This is especially apparent in the opening of "Miserere" and the drumming in "Sarah was Ninety Years Old." Whether this was purely the composer's intention or added in production is difficult to say, as I have not heard any other versions of these compositions, but the result is magnificent. Pärt's work is often described as "serene;" that quality is not in evidence in "Miserere" which especially showcases his genius in the art of building and releasing tension. While not cacophonous and dissonant as some of Pärt's early works, such as "Perpetuum Mobile" and his Second Symphony, "Miserere" is a truly exciting and powerful work with a haunting and unforgettable opening. Pärt employs the hocket technique, or "call and response" of two melodic lines, often heard in African music, here alternating between voice and tones on the clarinet. The interpretation of "Festina Lente" is more lush than the version on Naxos 8.553750, although it may be overshadowed on that disk by its juxtaposition with several versions of "Fratres." Here it provides a transition between the expansive "Miserere" and the odd "Sarah," a 25-minute alternation between long sections of repetitive drumming and wordless vocalizations.

The Beauty of Absence.......2003-06-08

Despite Part's most recent work `Orient and Occident' or indeed his `LamenTate' scored for Anish Kapoor's remarkable sculpture at the Tate Modern, Miserere still exists as a celestial and cavernous masterpiece, overshadowing or rather still evidently commanding his present work.
Scored for an extraneous cacophony of the finest soloists (the favourites from the Hilliard Ensemble), chorus and orchestra, the dimension of sound created within the stases of extreme texture-both restrained and humble against the declarative and mighty his effect is extraordinarily overwhelming on both scales.
One is made ultimately aware of a direct embodiment of the composer's ineffable intent. And so with a conscious recourse to previous works such as `Arbos' scored simply for brass, rhythmic and harmonic themes are notably recurrent in the gigantic descending syncopated chorus of Miserere.

As one who is well acquainted with Part's penchant for divine simplicity, new listeners will become immediately infatuated with the striking delicacy of restrained melody and contrapuntal purity heard throughout all tracks in this compilation.
This is devotional music by a devotional man but do not be mislead by the apparently pristine and pious intent,. Part is often wrongly associated by means of orthodoxy with his contemporary, the somewhat priggish, Sir John Tavener. I can do no more for my readers than holler my own distaste for such associations, however biased I might appear. Part's music is clandestine as far as one can allow intellectually, and albeit religiously bound, it withholds an identity so profoundly unattainable elsewhere that is almost torturous to subject ones ear to it.

One does not find in Part, the pastoral reconcilement nor the vexatious Avant Gardism that might be expected from an Eastern European War Child. The silence, indeed the echo of nothingness imbued in that swarthy, infinite space is intoxicating to the very pinnacle of obsession.

What one is able to attain is the diaphanous awareness of a profound absence. However this absence is interpreted is, ultimately, the prerogative of the listener.

Very special, but not the best introduction to Part.......2001-02-08

This disc is a single-composer study, of which it can be said that some items are better examples of his work than others.

Two works on this disc show Part's tintinnabuli style in full bloom. "Miserere" itself is over thirty minutes long, and by far the best item in the programme. A setting of Psalm 51 in Latin (the same text as set in the famous Allegri "Miserere") with verses interpolated from the "Dies Irae" of the Missa pro Defunctis, this work shows how Part's style can magically draw a wealth of emotions from the simplest of musical concepts. Indeed, the work opens with the barest of motifs: the words of the psalm are chanted on three notes by a high solo tenor, interspersed with triadic statements (the so-called tintinnabuli pitches) on clarinet, and moreover bound together with distinct silences. This develops as the text unfolds: a solo counter-tenor joins the tenor in a haunting duet; meanwhile the instrumental ensemble expands to include other woodwinds and organ, all of which offer what appears to be a delicate wordless commentary. An abrupt change of pace comes with the "Dies Irae" verses, sung by a four-part chamber choir with massive, apocalyptic statements from woodwinds, brass, organ, percussion and electric guitars (!) - yet all is in the same style as the opening. After this massive outburst of terror, the opening discourse returns, sung by soloists (soprano, counter-tenor, two tenors and a bass). The interplay of voices and instruments carries the text forward in strikingly beautiful and sensitive ways. The work ends, in pure penitence and supplication, with a further choral statement, this time sung with heart-rending quietness: the "Rex tremendae" verse of the "Dies Irae," bringing the work to a close. It truly is one of Part's masterpieces - a proof that the extreme simplicity of the tintinnabuli style need not be limited to small-scale works, and can indeed break free of sounding annoying or repetitive. Recorded here in a very generous acoustic, played and sung with clarity and gravity, and carrying a beautifully sustained emotional weight, this is a definitive performance - a real gem.

The other tintinnabuli work (track 2) is "Festina lente" - "hurrying slowly" - which is scored for string orchestra and harp and makes use of the mensuration canon technique employed by the composer in "Miserere" and other works. This is a softer and more direct piece than "Miserere," but the effect is refreshing after the profound writing of the former - and like "Miserere," it is sensitively performed here.

The last work on the disc may at first seem off-putting. "Sarah was ninety years old" was composed just prior to Part's formation of tintinnabuli (he had previously written serial music, like that of Schoenberg). It is a minimalist piece - the first four minutes or so feature nothing but a single drum, played with two beaters to produce alternating timbres of sound. These timbres are hacked out in a single rhythmic pattern that never seems to end: this is said to symbolise the ninety years of barren life lived by Sarah, wife of Abraham in the biblical book of Genesis. Presently, two tenors enter with an array of chords, cycling around each other and also set to a basic repeating rhythm. After more knocking from the drum and more very simple vocal droning, the organ enters, massive yet restrained, and an ecstatic solo soprano takes up the wordless narrative - Sarah conceives a child, the first of many that became the Israelites in the Genesis story. At first hearing (and perhaps several subsequent ones) this piece will seem dull and pointless; it does have a remarkable meaning, however, and it is quite gem-like even as it is barren and seemingly devoid of musical content.

Tracks:

Gorecki: Totus Tuus
Magnificat
I. Kyrie
II. Gloria
III. Credo
IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei
Friede Auf Erden

Customer Reviews:

5 stars subtracting 3 stars.......2003-11-25

I have to agree with Randolph Wagner. This CD gets 5 stars for the choral pieces minus 3 stars for the recording quality. It sounds like the recording was transferred from an 8-track tape. This CD should have been sent back and remastered. If you have other Shaw CD's, you can hear for yourself the difference. This is NOT a quality recording. Why did they let this slip out the door?

Spiritual!.......2002-04-26

This is a magnificent recording. Even though, a capella CD's can sometimes be hard to stomach, I find myself listening to this disc again and again. This recording will literally lift your spirits. Gorecki's Totus Tuus is epitome of sublime, easing effortlessly across the span of 11 minutes. Part's Magnificat is a little darker in tone, but if you are patient it will blossom repeatedly. Martin's Mass is somewhere between ethereal and madrigal. Barber's Agnus Dei, based on his Adagio for Strings, is uncannily eerie, yet powerfully cathartic at the same time. Finally, Schoenberg's Peace on Earth is emotionally buoyant, absolutely gorgeous, and sadly, just as relevant now as it was when it was written almost a century ago. The aural depth captured by Telarc will engulf you in sound. Shaw conducts each of these modern masterpieces with aplomb and the Festival Singers sing their lungs out. An exciting album, it is definitely worth being a part of anyone's collection.

Warning: NOT a keeper!.......2001-11-22

Having had the privilege of singing with Shaw on many occasions, I know and honor him as a passionate choral technician and teacher who could always bring out better than the best in an amateur group. Nearly all the choral directors I've ever sung under pull "Shawisms" from their bag of tricks to improve pitch and accuracy. However, in today's era where we can choose from a plethora of professional groups (Montiverdi Singers, Tallis Scholars, Dale Warland Singers, etc.), sadly, Shaw's recordings usually don't compete.

Particularly in his final years when he would hold his Summer Festivals in Southern France (attracting a huge flock of choral directors), the recorded product (released on a series of Telarc recordings) has been consistently mushy and lugubrious - this one in particular! The usually fine Telarc engineers should be ashamed (as well as their marketers who where obviously trying to ride the Shaw band wagon as far as they could)!

The Barber Agnus Dei (for which I've yet to find a satisfying recording) sounds like the singers are submerged in molasses! The tempo is unbelievably slow and there is a total lack of clarity in the inner parts. I recently was driving through Colorado during the NPR fund-raising week and heard a pair of well-meaning NPR announcers slavering over this recording - I thought I was going to puke!

Much better recordings exist of the Gorecki, Pärt and Martin. With due deference to the master, I wouldn't touch this recording with a ten-foot pole. If you simply must purchase Shaw recordings, stick with the larger choral repertoire - you're guaranteed to get good choral singing and excellent soloists (but usually coupled with a less-than-electric performance).

The Barber is cathartic beyond measure........2001-09-15

I write this review three days after the tragic September 11 events in New York and Washington, three days which left me numbed, during which I searched and searched for music having cathartic value - "music of healing" - largely in vain. For most of that time, the value of listening to music seemed to have eluded me. (Given the circumstances, this must have happened to others as well, even others for whom music is a large part of their lives, as it is for me.)

This was not a state of affairs destined to go on open-ended. I knew that a major part of breaking this "blockage" would somehow involve the recorded work of Robert Shaw, whose recorded performances have in the past led me out of such "wildernesses." And so it was that his recording of the Bach B-Minor Mass (reviewed elsewhere at Amazon.com by me) provided the "lion's share" of healing-through-music. One need only listen to Shaw's performance of the closing "Dona nobis pacem" of this Mass to be instantly uplifted.

But his performance of Barber's Agnus Dei, a choral arrangement by Barber of his Adagio for Strings (which in turn is a string orchestra arrangement of the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11), provided me with a healing of an entirely different nature: A searing work guaranteed to cauterize and thereby provide emotional catharsis and release.

One cannot fathom what was going through a very youthful Sam Barber's mind when he wrote this Op. 11 second movement. But we should be thankful that Arturo Toscanini, in 1936, encouraged Barber to arrange it for string orchestra, and that much later (in 1967) Barber chose to arrange it yet again for chorus. And that Maestro Shaw saw fit to include it on this Evocation of the Spirit choral compilation.

I don't mean to sell the rest of this album short in any way whatsoever. I found, after listening to the Barber, that I could then go on and listen once again to the rest of the album. ALL of these choral masterpieces can be said to be "music of healing." While the Górecki and Pärt works are probably the best known, there are hidden pleasures as well in the Frank Martin Mass and in Arnold Schoenberg's seldom-heard, but totally accessible, Friede auf Erden ("Peace on Earth").

But it was the Barber that I needed to hear today. Tuck this album away for that rainy day; it will lift your spirits as it did mine. And, hopefully, your circumstances - your need - will not be of a magnitude that mine (and of course millions of others) had been in these recent days.

Bob Zeidler

Best Shaw Recording Ever.......2001-06-20

This CD was an introduction of 20th century music for me. There is not a SINGLE TRACK on this CD that is not exceptional. The Martin Mass is wonderful and the Barber is Orgasmic! GET THIS CD!

Average customer rating:

Heavenly lullaby
If you're looking for minimalism...
Impecable recording quality...a recording artists dream.
Brilliant performance, good sound
They can sing this in Heaven

I Am The True Vine: Arvo Part
Paul Hillier , Theatre of Voices , and Pro Arte Singers
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Arvo Pärt: De Profundis
Orient & Occident
Alina - Arvo Part
Miserere
Arvo Part: Te Deum / Kaljuste, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

ASIN: B00003Z9U9
Release Date: 2000-03-14

Tracks:

Bogoroditse Djevo
I Am The True Vine
Ode IX, from Kanon pokajanen
Woman With the Alabaster Box, The
Tribute To Caesar
BERLINER MESSE with Christopher Bowers-Broadbent organ/Kyrie
BERLINER MESSE/Gloria
BERLINER MESSE/Erster Alleluiavers
BERLINER MESSE/Zweiter Alleluiavers
BERLINER MESSE/Veni Sancte Spiritus
BERLINER MESSE/Credo
BERLINER MESSE/Sanctus
BERLINER MESSE/Angus dei

Amazon.com

Contemporary troubador Paul Hillier has been one of the key players behind introducing Arvo Pärt's music to Western audiences, first through recordings with the Hilliard Ensemble and later through his magnificently innovative group Theatre of Voices. I Am the True Vine continues the collaboration by bringing together some truly vintage Pärt compositions from the '90s. Although it exists on disc in a more elaborate version for choir and strings, the 1990 Berlin Mass was originally written for just four solo voices and organ. Pärt later revised the score, returning to that original sonority, which is the version offered here. The consummate preparation of the Theatre of Voices, in which every line is lovingly unfurled, the whole building into a memorable aural sculpture, only heightens a listener's admiration for Pärt's ability to make the seemingly simple profound. We also hear the composer in a more overtly joyful mood than usual in the short first selection, while the title track--a setting of a text from the Gospel of John and one of three world premiere recordings here--is a marvelously organic example of word painting (representing Pärt's choral virtuosity even when it comes to setting English text). --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Heavenly lullaby.......2006-08-20

This is the CD on my bedroom CD player that I listen to to "center" myself before going to sleep. It's actually a little intense for lullaby music, stimulating in a profoundly relaxing way.This is the first CD I would take to my desert island.

If you're looking for minimalism..........2003-04-03

I must have been under the false impression that ALL of Arvo Part's work since 1976 (around the time Fur Alina was written) was in the minimalist vein. Well, this recording is certainly not minimalist in any way, shape, or form.

If you are looking for this type of recording, I would recommend you try Part's instrumental works (apart from those written before '76).

This disc sounds more like neo-rennaisance madrigals and motets. If you are looking for a modern composer doing this type of work, look no further. However, if you are expecting another Fur Alina you will be greatly disappointed.

Impecable recording quality...a recording artists dream........2001-01-06

The best choral recording on the market period. So great in fact that I use this CD to test mid-range imagining on high end speakers. The tones are so pure....that you'll agree this is the CD you spent over 600. a speaker for, bar none.

Brilliant performance, good sound.......2000-09-14

The CD "I am the true vine" with works by Arvo Part is my first more thorough encounter with this composer. The sound of his music - even in the more modern parts - is always very pleasing and somewhat "easy" to listen to. In how far, however, is Part's music conveying more than just the full, well set choral sound? In my opinion, Arvo Part delivers a general feeling about the text, but it takes some time to get acquainted to the unusual style where voices join and drop out of the setting during single words, and in some cases, the emphases in the rhythm of the music do not fit the pronounciation needed in the text (that's why there are only 4 stars).

The CD presents various works, from the "Berliner Messe" - a rather advanced arrangement - via some biblical themes in English to nearly folk-style slavic tunes. This variety makes this CD probably a good start for people like me who want to know more about Part's work. The recording is nearly flawless, and the ensembles directed by Paul Hillier do a very good job.

They can sing this in Heaven.......2000-08-24

This disc is my first introduction to Arvo Part, and I was awestruck. This mystical work sounds like chant but informed by a millenium of musical advancement. I won't venture an opinion for people who aren't Christian (though I daresay they'd appreciate the music), but personally the communion of saints can sing this in Heaven. The title track alone brought me to tears. The singers are excellent and courageous and the encoding quality of the disc seems flawless. Incidentally, it's amazing Part could make such a startling and moving modern Mass setting and still make it singable for everyday liturgical use.