Tallin Chamber Orchestra; Estonian Symphony Orchestra; Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; Tõnu Kaljuste

The eagerly-awaited new Pärt: Released 25 years after the Estonian composer started ECMs New Series (Tabula Rasa, 1984), In Principio offers six compositions of different scale and instrumentation written between 1989 and 2005 thus allowing for an impressive overview of Pärts recent stylistic development.

The dramatic 25-minute In principio for mixed choir and large orchestra sets the famous opening of the gospel of St. John, In principio erat Verbum. In its five movements, tintinnabuli-diatonicism is contrasted with sophisticated harmonic procedures, massive brass chords are juxtaposed with almost stoic calm in the choir.

With most of Pärts more recent works, the score (2003) was written in response to a major commission.