Cantate Domino canticum novum - Arvo Pärt (b.1935)

Arvo Pärt was born on September 11, 1935, in Estonia, the only child of Linda Anette and August Pärt. In 1938 he and his mother moved to Rakvere where he studied at Rakvere Music School (1945–53). In 1954 he began studies at the Tallinn Music School but this was interrupted by military service in the Soviet army (1954–6). In 1956 he was released from the army due to ill health and returned to the Tallinn Music School where he studied briefly with Veljo Tormis. From 1957 to 1963, he studied composition at the Tallinn Conservatory with Heino Eller, whom he cites as a profound personal and musical influence, and to whom he dedicated his Symphony no.1 'Polyphonic' (1963). In 1958 he began work as a sound engineer at Estonian Radio, resigning in 1967 following a period of illness. Since then, he has worked solely as a freelance composer.

Pärt's early career was one of experimentation. Credo (1968) is the culmination of these early experiments. The work contains a raft of compositional techniques from the quotation of Bach's Prelude in C Major to the use of whispers and shouts as well as note clusters and a tone row built up using the circle of fifths as its basis. Following this it still somehow manages to conclude with an extremely tonal and conventional C Major chord! The first performance of the work was controversial, not due to the use of the contemporary compositional techniques highlighted above but more because the work set several religious texts which did not please the Soviet authorities at that time.

Following the response to Credo, Pärt became disillusioned and entered a period of contemplative reflection during which he rejected contemporary compositional techniques and instead turned his attention to the study of early music including Gregorian chant, the music of the Notre Dame school and Renaissance polyphony. He composed little during this period.

In 1972 Pärt joined the Orthodox Church and his profound faith has been the driving force behind his compositional practice ever since. He has claimed that 'religion influences everything. Not just music, but everything', and most of his works since that point are religious and text-based. They range from intimate works for solo voice such as Es sang vor langen Jahren (1984) to large and elaborate works for chorus and orchestra such as Miserere (1989).

In 1976 Pärt developed a new style of composition named tintinnabuli from the Latin tintinnabulum meaning 'bell'. Many of the works for which he is most well-known date from the following year, including Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, Fratres, Summa and Tabula rasa. Since then, Pärt has composed dozens of works using tintinnabulation as a technique.

Pärt's tintinnabuli technique is extremely simple: it consists of just two lines, a melodic line that usually moves by step, and a tintinnabulation line that uses only the pitches of a 'tonic' triad. These two lines are heard together as a single composite line.

Domino, based on Psalm 96, for choir or soloists with organ, was composed in 1977 (revised in 1996). It is considered to be one of the most joyful works in Pärt's tintinnabuli music. Two pairs of voices, soprano/alto and tenor/bass, move throughout almost the entire composition step by step in opposite directions, while the organ plays the notes of a B-flat major triad at the same time, creating various combinations with the vocal parts. There is much emphasis on word rhythm, creating some interesting syncopations, particularly when the length of the bar is adjusted to accommodate the text. The effect is striking – simple yet complex, disorientating but extremely clear and in this instance, joyous from the first note to the last!