アルヴォ・ペルト: カノン・ポカヤネン (悔恨のカノン)

ペルトの記念碑的名作
カペラ・アムステルダムの超越的美の演奏が再登場!

ペルトの記念碑的作品「カノン・ポカヤネン」の、カペラ・アムステルダムによる録音が再登場します。ペルトはラテン語や英訳の詩に多く付曲していますが、この「カノン・ポカヤネン」はロシア正教の言葉に付曲したもの。
ケルンの大聖堂の750周年を記念して委嘱された本作は、1997年に完成、1998年3月17日に大聖堂で初演されました。悔恨は、教会では神の前に進む際に欠くことのできない要素。全篇にわたってニ短調で書かれており、張りつめた緊張感は、聴き手を悔恨の世界にいざないます。1970年代初期に正教会に入信、単声聖歌やグレゴリオ聖歌、中世の音楽、バロック音楽に傾倒したペルト。テキストを丹念に消化し、厳格かつ繊細な様式に誠実に則っており、イコン絵画のような霊的かつ瞑想的な輝きを体現しています。
静かに動く各声部が織りなすハーモニーと言葉の重なり合いはえもいわれぬ透明感のある美しさです。
HARMONIA MUNDI

Arvo Part's Kanon Pokajanen of 1997 has become one of his most popular works, perhaps because, although it fits broadly into the bell-like "tintinnabular" style of the main part of his career, it is a bit less abstract than many of his other works. The "kanon" of the title is not a musical canon, but a collection of sacred texts, here a group of repentance prayers of the Orthodox church, in the old Church Slavonic language. The music is a cappella and connected to the text, and as such, it naturally contains contrasts that set parts of the text off in basic ways even as static sonorities are maintained for long stretches. Part himself indicated that in the Kanon, he "wanted the word to be able to find its own sound, to draw its own melodic line," to which one might add in order to "build its own larger shapes" as well. The work is thus suited well to the sound of the Cappella Amsterdam under Daniel Reuss, not one of the usual choirs that interpret Part with a maximum of purity, but add expression and just a bit of vocal heft. The results are impressive and carry a sense of the ecstasy inspired by the very best Part performances. Sample anywhere, but check in first with one of the responsorial Odes (perhaps "Ode VI"), and note the care that has been taken with the unfamiliar text and language by the performers. Another major attraction is the sound of Amsterdam's Waalse Kerk, ideal for this music. A highly recommended entry in the Part catalog.