Arvo Pärt. The Deer’s Cry by ensemble Vox Clamantis won best classical album at this year’s Estonian Music Awards. The CD was produced by the well-known record label ECM.
“This CD is one milestone in a long journey. To walk and work with Arvo and listen and follow his observations – it is a very satisfying and enriching process and a great privilege,” said Jan-Eik Tulve, the artistic director and conductor of Vox Clamantis.
“The CD comprises Arvo Pärt’s music, which we have sung over the years down to the very last. If you like the album, it means that the message has touched you. It is likely to have touched those who it was meant to touch.”
The CD has choral music by Arvo Pärt, which was mainly written before the year 2000. Alongside well-known works such as Da pacem Domine and The Deer’s Cry, there are also vocal-instrumental pieces that have rarely reached the recording stage, such as Von Angesicht zu Angesicht, Sei gelobt du Baum and Veni Creator. It also has the premiere recording of Habitare fratres in unum. The title track The Deer’s Cry is dedicated to Eric Marinitsch, who is Arvo Pärt’s representative at Universal Editions publishing company. The CD The Deer’s Cry was recorded at the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord in Tallinn in the autumns of 2013 and 2014. Sound engineering by Igor Kirkwood and Margo Kõlar; artistic director for the recording was Helena Tulve; mastering by Manfred Eicher and Christoph Stickel; producer Manfred Eicher.
Vox Clamantis have been recognised elsewhere for the album The Deer’s Cry. It was recently awarded the Diapason d’Or, the highest acknowledgment by French music journalists, given by Diapason magazine. The French music magazine Classica also regarded it worthy of its highest award, the Choc de Classica.
Other nominations for classical album of the year included another ECM release, Tõnu Kõrvits. Mirror, Heino Eller. String Quartet, released by Estonian Public Broadcasting, and the series Great Maestros I-V, released by Estonian Record Publications.
The list of finalists for classical album of the year was compiled based on suggestions by members of the Estonian Music Council. The nominations were made by a jury chosen by the Estonian Music Council and the Estonian Association of Phonogram Producers.