Tõnu Kaljuste/Estonian NSO & Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Tallinn Chamber Orchestra

Arvo Pärt: In Principio

ECM New Series

Rating: 5/5

If a Pärt journey is to start somewhere, best let it be on ECM. Having launched its New Series 25 years ago with 'Tabula Rasa', the label now boasts 12 Pärt discs on its roster. Under Kaljuste's expert baton and, of course, Pärt's own supervision, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir et al give inch-perfect performances of 10 more recent Pärt works, four of which here receive their recording premiere, most notably encapsulating perfectly a sense of redemptive struggle and meditative stillness in such seminal works as 'Cecilia, Vergine Romana' and 'Da Pacem Domine'. Karen Dervan