To mark Arvo Pärt's 90th birthday, the 2023 album Tractus is released as a stylish 2-LP vinyl edition, bringing together all previously published liner notes in high-quality print.[2][5] The album focuses on works in which choir and string orchestra blend seamlessly.[1][5] New arrangements dominate, and the focused performances by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under Tõnu Kaljuste invite attentive listening.[5] The recording opens with "Littlemore Tractus," a piece inspired by comforting thoughts from a sermon by John Henry Newman, which evokes themes of change, transformation, and renewal.[4] This gives the album an atmosphere of reflection, summing up, and coming to terms with the past. In addition to "Littlemore Tractus," the album includes the works "Greater Antiphons," "Cantique des degrés," "Sequentia," "L'abbé Agathon," "These Words..." and "Veni creator."[3] A carefully rearranged "Vater unser" for choir, strings, and piano completes this release. Recorded last year in Tallinn by Manfred Eicher, this album continues the tradition of outstanding Arvo Pärt albums that began with "Tabula rasa" in 1984 on the ECM New Series label.[5]
