The high standard set last year by Naxos’s package marking Sir John Tavener’s 60th birthday is matched by this album celebrating Arvo Pärt’s 70th (on September 11). Again, we get two discs and a booklet containing extensive historical and critical notes, and again Naxos has obtained the co-operation of other labels. Unavoidably in a survey of this scope, several works are represented by excerpts, but my only complaint is that it would have been helpful to sequence the compositions in chronological order. Nonetheless, this is an enlightening overview of Pärt’s music. Newcomers to his work could do no better and even seasoned Pärt admirers will find it useful.

That said, there’s much to be said for the BIS disc, too. Despite a rather pale performance of the violin and piano version of Fratres (Gluzman and Yoffe redeem themselves on Spiegel im Spiegel) this might well be the disc I’d plump for because of the inclusion of lesser-known pieces: Annum per annum (also included, in a different recording, on Naxos), the Quintettino, the lovely Arinuschka and the 1994 revision of the 1964 Collage über B-A-C-H. If you never expected to hear Pärt use the ‘shave-and-a-haircut/two-bits’ motif, catch the Quintettino.

Several pieces on the Harmonia Mundi disc come from the period when Pärt seemed about to develop a more expansive style. As Hillier has observed, his ‘tintinnabuli’ period can now be seen as having three subdivisions analogous to pencil drawing, fresco and oil painting. …which was the son of… (2000) suggests yet new brush-strokes. As Pärt’s longtime friend and collaborator, Hillier’s interpretations are about as definitive as you can get.

There is a degree of overlap between these releases and, apart from Dopo la vittoria and …which was the son of… on the Harmonia Mundi disc, all tracks have been previously available, but each disc is well worth considering either as an introduction to Pärt or to fill in gaps in your collection.The high standard set last year by Naxos’s package marking Sir John Tavener’s 60th birthday is matched by this album celebrating Arvo Pärt’s 70th (on September 11). Again, we get two discs and a booklet containing extensive historical and critical notes, and again Naxos has obtained the co-operation of other labels. Unavoidably in a survey of this scope, several works are represented by excerpts, but my only complaint is that it would have been helpful to sequence the compositions in chronological order. Nonetheless, this is an enlightening overview of Pärt’s music. Newcomers to his work could do no better and even seasoned Pärt admirers will find it useful.

That said, there’s much to be said for the BIS disc, too. Despite a rather pale performance of the violin and piano version of Fratres (Gluzman and Yoffe redeem themselves on Spiegel im Spiegel) this might well be the disc I’d plump for because of the inclusion of lesser-known pieces: Annum per annum (also included, in a different recording, on Naxos), the Quintettino, the lovely Arinuschka and the 1994 revision of the 1964 Collage über B-A-C-H. If you never expected to hear Pärt use the ‘shave-and-a-haircut/two-bits’ motif, catch the Quintettino.

Several pieces on the Harmonia Mundi disc come from the period when Pärt seemed about to develop a more expansive style. As Hillier has observed, his ‘tintinnabuli’ period can now be seen as having three subdivisions analogous to pencil drawing, fresco and oil painting. …which was the son of… (2000) suggests yet new brush-strokes. As Pärt’s longtime friend and collaborator, Hillier’s interpretations are about as definitive as you can get.

There is a degree of overlap between these releases and, apart from Dopo la vittoria and …which was the son of… on the Harmonia Mundi disc, all tracks have been previously available, but each disc is well worth considering either as an introduction to Pärt or to fill in gaps in your collection.