For Arvo

Recorded to mark the 90th birthday of Arvo Pärt, this album valuably anthologises the Estonian composer’s piano music. The Latvian pianist Georgijs Osokins is an infallibly empathetic guide to these often visionary pieces. In the opening work, Für Alina, Pärt’s trademark tintinnabuli (bell-like) effects are mesmerically registered, while tenderness suffuses Osokins’ solicitous account of Variations for the Healing of Arinushka. Passages of Lisztian brilliance and chant-like eloquence sit cheek by jowl in Osokins' arrangement of Fratres, one of Pärt’s best-known pieces. The cheekily inflected Ukuaru Waltz shows a lighter side of Pärt’s musical nature, as do Osokins’ exquisitely inflected performances of the Vier leichte Tanzstücke, written for a children’s theatre production. Osokins’ punchy renditions of the Op. 1 Sonatinas for piano are another highlight, as is his rapt solo realisation of the conclusion to Pärt’s Lamentate. The alluring timbres of the 100-year-old Steinway piano used for the recital offer further enticement.