Wiltener Sangerknaben, Johannes Stecher - Arvo Part: Babel (2015)

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Wiltener Sangerknaben, Johannes Stecher - Arvo Part: Babel (2015)

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The origins of the Innsbruck-based Wilten Boys’ Choir stretch back to the 13th century. Their director since 1991 has been Johannes Stecher. He has nourished a carefully moulded – though distinctive – choral sound, notable for its vibrato-laden top treble line (which imparts just enough of a hint of fragility to be refreshing) coupled with super-smooth and firm tenor and bass registers. This 80th-birthday tribute to Arvo Pärt claims to be the first-ever disc of his vocal music performed by a boys’ choir, and includes two premiere recordings.

For some listeners, 57 minutes’ worth of Pärt may be too much to take in one sitting. Although much of the programme matches Philip Borg-Wheeler’s description of Pärt’s style as ‘unruffled tranquillity’, there are a few moments of unbuttoned ecstasy, for example in the Littlemore Tractus and the light-hearted, almost folksy Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima, composed as recently as 2014. The highlight of the disc is the affecting setting of By the Waters of Babylon. Its soaring phrases perfectly match the acoustics of the Tyrolean churches where these tracks were taped in 2013-14. The final outburst is truly spine-tingling.

On the other hand, The Deer’s Cry (sung in English) becomes rather wearisome. Another bonus is Stecher’s splendid organ-playing, for example in the ‘mashed-up’ distortion of elements fom Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor which concludes the 2011 version ofThe Beatitudes. As a curious appendix, the short Vater unser is sung by an uncredited treble soloist with a remarkably fruity quasi-contralto voice. A mixed result, therefore, which Pärt completists will, though, surely relish.

Review by Malcolm Riley, Gramophone

Commentators can be quick to dismiss Pärt’s music as too simple or sentimental. Yet such claims belie the complex musical and political process that saw Pärt arrive at his ‘tintinnabulatory’ approach amid the iron strictures of communist Estonia. This fine collection of choral works gathers together a rich array of Pärt’s works for voice, featuring a number of surprisingly strident, urgent works amid Pärt’s otherwise controlled musical expression. The disc is also notable in being the first recording of Pärt’s vocal music performed by children’s voices.

The collection ranges from the plaintive Magnificat of 1985 to two spirited world premiere recordings, including Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima (2015), where the setting of Matthew 21: 6 (‘out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?’) is all the more affecting for the young voices here performing. Composed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Pope Benedict’s ordination, the syrupy Vater unser for boy soprano and piano still baffles, but is rendered with warmth and maturity (although the sleeve notes do not say by whom). The disc otherwise captures Pärt’s profoundly gentle musical sensibility and his remarkable capacity to build restrained yet beguiling harmonies from the simplest of materials, all handled with skill and confidence by the Wilten Boys’ Choir.

Review by Kate Wakeling, BBC Music Magazine

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Wiltener Sangerknaben, Johannes Stecher - Arvo Part: Babel (2015)

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Wiltener Sangerknaben, Johannes Stecher - Arvo Part: Babel (2015)

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