Rias Chamber Choir - Palestrina 500 Pärt 90

In 2025, the world will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. His colleague Arvo Pärt also celebrates an anniversary this year: In September, the Estonian will turn 90. A vast period of time lies between them by human standards. Both have developed their own unique styles—and yet they are kin. Both dedicate their soundscapes to the praise of God, and both subject themselves to strict, albeit completely contradictory, rules.
Palestrina, in keeping with the taste of his time, is committed to the most artistic polyphony. Arvo Pärt, on the other hand, conveys spiritual messages with the utmost reduction and simplicity, thus, just like Palestrina, striking a chord with his audience.
With the "Missa Papae Marcelli," Palestrina created one of the most important mass settings in music history. He wrote it in memory of Pope Marcellus II, who was crowned in 1555. According to legend, the piece was composed in a single night sometime between 1555 and 1567. An angel is said to have dictated the magnificent work directly to the master's pen—true heavenly music whose beauty still overwhelms us today.
Every word emerges clearly, despite all the polyphonic magic. Thus, the composition met the demands of the Counter-Reformation that the text of a mass should not be lost in the intricacies of elaborate polyphony, but should remain clearly at the center. Palestrina achieved both textual comprehensibility and virtuosity in the composition.
Latvian conductor Kaspars Putniņš and the RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, performing for the first time in Monheim am Rhein, combine Palestrina's masterpiece with compositions by Arvo Pärt in their double birthday celebration.

program:

Arvo Pärt (*1935) - Solfeggio
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) - Kyrie from: “Missa Papae Marcelli”
Arvo Pärt - Nunc dimitis
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Gloria from: “Missa Papae Marcelli”
Arvo Pärt – Magnificat
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Credo from: “Missa Papae Marcelli”
Arvo Pärt - Dopo la vittoria
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Sanctus, Benedictus from: “Missa Papae Marcelli”
Arvo Pärt - The Woman with the Alabaster Box
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Agnus Dei I & II from: “Missa Papae Marcelli”