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List Price: $25.98
Our Price: $25.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028945783420
Label: Ecm Records
Manufacturer: Ecm Records
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Ecm Records
Release Date: 2000-01-25
Studio: Ecm Records
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Editorial Reviews:
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It seems as though every year, mystic Estonian composer Arvo Pärt delivers a new, thoroughly riveting composition. This year, it was Kanon Pokajanen. From the canon of repentance of the Russian Orthodox Church, Part created an a cappella masterpiece, a minimalist work that builds itself gradually, yet completely, upon haunting voices, harmonies, and volume. On this disc, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir delivers a gripping performance, with gorgeous sound quality. It's more than 80 minutes long, but thoroughly rewarding. --Jason Verlinde
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shattering. Don't believe in transcendence? Listen.
Comment: I told someone tonight that this is "music to commit suicide by." What I meant is that if dying were this beautiful, everyone who heard this music would be rushing toward an oncoming train. If I did nothing else important in my life, I turned a few people on to Arvo Part's 'Kanon Pokajanen,' people who never would have found it without me. That's a pretty heavy thing to say, but I've considered it and have decided that yes, I really feel that way.
No matter what your religion, and even if you are an atheist, it doesn't matter. I sometimes consider myself an atheist. But please, if you are curious enough about this CD to have read this far, buy it.
I was a singer in a rock band in my youth. I had had no exposure to "classical" or "serious" music as a child, and only slowly, and in fits and starts, developed a taste for it. "Choral music" is something I have discovered really only in the past two years or so. Whatever your musical background, including those of you much more musically sophisticated than I, if you are seeking dark, beautiful, intense, shattering, transcendent music, then you have found nirvana. Buy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: uniquely powerful
Comment: I have heard extracts from this cd and was so moved by them I flew to Tallinn, Estonia to hear it (same choir and conductor as this recording) perform in Niguliste church. It was amazing and in common with another younger reviewer I find it so powerful to hear again that although I will buy it (so that I have it) I think listening to it maybe a bit much for me.
The choir is stunning, the music breathtaking, this recording excellent, and Tallinn a lovely place to visit!
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Summary: Music infused with orthodox (traditional) mysticism
Comment: This arguably is Part's greatest musical operation. Although this piece is referencing penitential and supplicatory worship, the Kanon evokes a sense of some cosmic apocalyptic event, unfolding in the firmament for all of humanity to witness.
Focus on the male voices at the beginning of this spectacular music and you will hear wonderful and unique coalescence of sounds that will take your breath away. Simultaneously, with the opening impact, comes the sorrowful and heartbreaking intentionality of the piece. The only other sacred composition that can surpass the supremacy of the Kanon is Allegri's Miserere...but not by much.
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Summary: The Line of Masters of Liturgical Music Continues!
Comment: In this captivating piece, Estonian, Arvo Part, proves himself a worthy successor to such masters of liturgical music as Allegri, Palestrina, Tallis, Byrd, Mozart, Faure', Rachmaninov, Elgar, Williams and Rutter. I urge any lover of liturgical music to experience this marvelous masterwork.
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Summary: Mysterious and Mesmerizing
Comment: It has been said that the human voice is the most beautiful of all instruments. In this 2-CD set, with the help of the 28-voice Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Arvo Part proves it to be once again true. Part sets the Russian Orthodox liturgical song cycle of the Slavonic, KANON POKAJANEN ('canon of repentance') to s-l-o-w, deep, majestically dark vocal harmonies followed by sumptuous elevations into the choral heavens. Mysterious and mesmerizing; cathartic and redemptive; Part brings us to the threshold of our spiritual decision to change our sinful ways, and to begin our journey toward paradise. The canon text is included in the liner notes and provides the contemplation from which Part took his inspiration, and from which we may also take ours.
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