Probably the most performed living composer, Arvo Pärt was inspired to compose Lamentate in 2002 by a work of the sculptor Anish Kapoor. Its title, Marsyas, refers to the satyr of classical legend who challenged the god Apollo to a musical contest, and was flayed alive for his hubris. Occupying the huge space of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London, Kapoor’s sculpture evokes the Promethean daring of humanity in abstract terms, and in response, commissioned by the Tate, Pärt produced his largest work of instrumental music.

When he first saw the sculpture, said Pärt, ‘my first impression was that I, as a living being, was standing before my own body and was dead, as in a time-warp perspective, at once in the future and the present. Suddenly, I found myself put in a position in which my life appeared in a different light.’ Cast in 10 movements, over the course of 40 minutes, Lamentate is not a rite of grief for a specific individual but raises its gaze to more universal concerns.

‘Death and suffering are the themes that concern every person born into this world,’ as Part remarks. ‘Accordingly, I have written a lamento – not for the dead, but for the living, who have todeal with these issues for themselves. A lamento for us, who don’t have it easy dealing with the pain and hopelessness of the world.’ Pärt is thus contributing to a tradition of semi-sacred or indeed secular liturgies of grief and remembrance and transfiguration, from the German Requiem of Brahms to the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss and On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams.

This recording won a Melomano D’Oro Award in Spain, 5 Stars in Ritmo (Spain), “This disc is coherent, expresses an authentic and moving feeling, is superbly played by the pianist and seems to me to be one of Pärt's best discs to date.” (Scherzo, Spain).

Orquesta de Extremadura

Álvaro Albiach - conductor