Passio, for tenor, bass, vocal quartet, chorus, oboe, bassoon, violin, cello & organ
Arvo Pärt's Passio (1982), also known as the St. John Passion, is sometimes grouped with the large pieces of the time in which Pärt developed his tintinnabuli technique. The technique is present in the work, but Passio is unlike anything else Pärt ever wrote. Although broken up here into 11 tracks, it is an uninterrupted setting of the biblical St. John Passion text, and although it has the basic minimal harmonies familiar from Pärt's later works, it is rigorously systematized. The words of the biblical Evangelist are given ...
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Arvo Pärt's Passio (1982), also known as the St. John Passion, is sometimes grouped with the large pieces of the time in which Pärt developed his tintinnabuli technique. The technique is present in the work, but Passio is unlike anything else Pärt ever wrote. Although broken up here into 11 tracks, it is an uninterrupted setting of the biblical St. John Passion text, and although it has the basic minimal harmonies familiar from Pärt's later works, it is rigorously systematized. The words of the biblical Evangelist are given to a vocal quartet, which may be introduced by a solo voice in one of several specified ways, accompanied by a quartet of violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon. The only other instrument is an organ. The soloists are a tenor for Pilate and a baritone for Jesus, and these are sharply distinguished by note duration. The chorus takes the words of the crowd and soldiers. The harmonies and tintinnabuli effects are likewise controlled by strict rules. Listeners may not be able to spell these...
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