Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke

The atmospheric and deeply spiritual music of Arvo Pärt has made him one of the world’s most performed and beloved composers. Alfred Schnittke, meanwhile, saw himself as a musical link to Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. This concert features works by both composers – music rich in emotional intensity. Arvo Pärt turns 90 this year (on 11 September).

Dopo la vittoria was commissioned from Pärt by the city of Milan, composed in 1997 to mark the 1600th anniversary of the death of Ambrose of Milan. The Beatitudes for choir and organ was the very first work in which Pärt set an English text. We also hear Magnificat – one of Pärt’s most popular choral pieces. Following an organ improvisation by Mattias Wager, organist of Stockholm Cathedral, the Pärt section of the concert concludes with the heavenly Nunc dimittis.

Schnittke’s music is often characterised by surprising stylistic juxtapositions – the rhythmic drive of the Baroque overlaid with more modern sounds. In his Concerto for Choir, a transcendent atmosphere is created by powerful bass lines and sopranos that seem to soar into a whistling register. Schnittke was the featured composer at Konserthuset’s Composer Festival in 1989.

The music in this concert calls for a world-class choir to fully realise its potential – and here we hear the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, conducted by British choral director Harry Bradford, who in 2021 took second place in the prestigious Eric Ericson Award, presented by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.