Arvo Pärt – Down At The Front https://www.downatthefront.co.uk The place to be to experience new music Mon, 01 Jan 2018 20:48:08 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 212659681 June 2017 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/3714 Mon, 01 Jan 2018 20:48:08 +0000 http://gigs.pahudson.net/?p=3714 This month’s bands

Artists I liked

Jherek Bischoff, Liam Byrne, Agnes Obel, Young Fathers, Richard Dawson, Louis Barabbas, Idles, Songhoy Blues, Arvo Pärt

Artists that were okay

Emma Gatrill, Melissa Parmenter, Ben McManus & Clara Del, Trans-Siberian March Band, Antony Elvin and His Men, Toby Hay, Marika Hackman

 

Artists I won’t be going out of my way to see again

V.O.

Best Gig

Idles at Rough Trade. They even managed to get some of the audience to crowd surf!

Best new band

Agnes Obel

Albums of the Month

    • Peasant – Richard Dawson

Best photo

Agnes Obel at the Roundhouse

]]> 3714 Avro Pärt’s Passio https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/524 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:08:16 +0000 http://gigs.pahudson.net/?p=524 As you can see from my reviews, guitar music is my bread an butter. But over the years I’ve become more open to other genres. My collection of classical music has grown substantially in the last decade and I try to catch a few Proms every summer. One composer I’m a big fan of, is Estonian minimalist composer Arvo Pärt. In my opinion some of his music is simply sublime. With it being Easter week, Westminster Abbey’s choir decided to perform his Passio – Pärt’s setting of St John’s passion. This piece is one of my least favourite Part pieces. But I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to hear a performance in the Abbey.

Westminster Abbey

I find the Passio a difficult piece to listen to on CD. Although it’s a striking piece, it’s performed entirely in Latin so it’s difficult to follow. But live, in an abbey, with an English translation, the piece really came alive. The baritone playing Jesus brought a dignity to Jesus’s responses that doesn’t come across in my recordings of the piece. As often happens when I see a performance of a piece for a choir, the speciality adds nuances that are missing from CD and tonight’s performance was no different. Overall it was definitely worth watching.

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