Summa

Summa serves as a definitive survey of Arvo Pärt's orchestral writing, primarily focusing on his 'tintinnabuli' period. Released in 2002, the album features the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra under Tõnu Kaljuste. The title track, originally a vocal work, is presented here in its string orchestra arrangement, highlighting the rhythmic and harmonic purity of Pärt's 'syllabic' composition style. A significant portion of the disc is dedicated to Symphony No. 3, a transitional work that bridges his early modernist explorations with his later sacred minimalism. The inclusion of 'Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten' provides the album's emotional anchor, utilizing a prolation canon to create a sense of infinite, cascading grief. Critically, the album is regarded as a high-water mark for Pärt's discography, praised for its pristine recording quality and the authoritative performances by his frequent Estonian collaborators.