Album: Arvo Part, kristjan jarvi Cantique (Sony Classical)

With Arvo Pärt's Symphony No 4 only recently released, it's a convenient point to compare his Symphony No 3, written nearly 40 years earlier, which forms the centrepiece of this album helmed by Kristjan Järvi, younger brother of Paavo.

It's clearly beholden to the laborious dictates of 20th century polyphony, featuring the kind of brusque horn work one can't imagine Pärt employing these days. More appealing are premieres of his "Stabat Mater for Three Voices and String Trio" and the "Cantique des degrés for Choir and Orchestra", the former an entrancing example of his "tintinnabulist" style, with arpeggiating vocal lines over another sustained vocal pitch.

DOWNLOAD THIS Stabat Mater for Choir and String Orchestra; Cantique des degrés for Choir and Orchestra