"Challenging" is putting it mildly when one takes on the fragmented soundscapes laid out by
Arvo Pärt, collected from a period in his life where he was contemplating (even struggling with) his own sense of compositional identity. Here, the musical aesthetics of yester-century seem tossed about in tumultuous waves of the avant-garde. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, "Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (Pro Et Contra)" is an unexpected bouquet of splinters, rusted springs, and dangling tangents, sandwiched between momentary Bach-inspired proclamations. Where applicable, Frans Helmerson darts about with appropriate reverence on the cello. "Perpetuum Mobile, Op. 10" follows next, a tense crescendo of orchestra pulsing and swelling toward a seemingly definitive climax, yet offers no real resolution as it passes ominously overhead and away toward the horizon. The two passages of "Symphony #1" are likewise unhinged, elusive, brilliant, and scattered. Brass clusters and plucked strings shiver through some daunting passages which may have difficulty finding more than scholarly appreciation. "Symphony No. 2" continues the flustered dialogue in much the same way, teetering over the sharp cliffs of
Shostakovich and Ligeti, sometimes so brashly as to embrace the apocalypse. The third movement is powerful, menacing, and deliberate at the outset; singed by the flames as it progresses; then blossoming into a lullaby that has a couple of seizures on its way to close. "Symphony #3" opens stoically and sweetly; an epic strategy in romanticism that conquers the listener with less-dissonant attacks and more triumphant ultimatums. Dedicated to
Neeme Järvi (the featured conductor of the album), the tone of this symphony is every bit as ominous as what precedes it without being as structurally jagged around the edges.
Pärt's unrest is everywhere on this release, and through the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra he reveals an awkwardness that the uninitiated may have a harder time digesting. It has the feel of a lost treasure, but the sound of a lost soul. ~ Glenn Swan