For Arvo (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Pärt: Für Alina (Version 1); Variations for the Healing of Arinushka; Fratres (Transc. Osokins for Piano); Vier leichte Tanzstücke “Musik für Kindertheater” – No. 1, Der gestiefelte Kater; No. 2, Rotkäppchen; No. 3, Schmetterlinge; No. 4, Tanz der Entenküken; Pari intervallo (Transc. Osokins for Piano); Sonatinas for Piano, Op. 1 No. 1: Für Anna Maria; Sonatinas for Piano, Op. 1 No. 2: Partita, Op. 2; Hymn to a Great City; Lamentate: Fragile e conciliante (Transc. Osokins for Piano); Für Alina (Version 2). Georgjis Osokins, piano. Deutsche Grammophon 00028948676729

The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt celebrated his 90^th birthday on September 11^th of 2025. By now, most classical music lovers should be familiar with his music, as his compositions have been recorded by myriad performers on a variety of labels. For those of us of a certain age, though, Pärt was once a newcomer who suddenly appeared on the scene with music unlike anything we had ever heard before. I can still vividly recall the first time I heard his music. While I was in graduate school, I had a weekend job as a security guard for a manufacturer of computer support equipment. One of my late-night duties was to drive from my post at the main plant to check on the training center, which was a couple of miles or so away. On one of those late night drives, I found that the classical FM radio station was playing something completely engrossing, music such as I had never experienced before. I was spellbound! I parked in the training center parking lot and listened to the end of the piece, eager to find out what this music could possibly be. It turned out to be the landmark ECM release Tabula Rasa, featuring the music of Arvo Pärt as played by the then-young violinist Gidon Kremer and of all pianists, the jazz icon Keith Jarrett. Since then, I have been an avid Pärt fan (as well as a fan of Kremer and Jarrett) and have auditioned and owned many of his numerous compositions over the past several decades.

About a decade after my discovery of Pärt’s music, Georgijs Osokins was born into a family of pianists in the Latvian capital of Riga in 1995. Then in 2025, Osokins released released his debut album on DG, For Arvo. “This album is a declaration of my deep love for Arvo and his music,” writes Osokins in the liner notes. “It encompasses both completely unknown pieces, and some of the most-performed works of the last forty years. It Includes both original works and the art-form of piano transcriptions. I wanted to capture the very moment of the composer’s revelation – from complex contemporary avant-garde through to pure, luminous and enigmatic beauty and simplicity.” And that aptly describes what this release comprises; fortunately, the luminous and beautiful tracks outnumber the avant-garde. The opening tracks -- Für Alina Variations for the Healing of Arinushka, Fratres, Ukuaru Waltz; Vier leichte Tanzstücke (“Four Easy Dance Pieces”), and Pari intervallo – are all relatively straightforward, easy on the ears, and the kind of music that most fans of Pärt have grown to appreciate. 

Especially noteworthy is Osokins’s transcription for piano of Fratres, which offer a fresh insight into this much-loved composition. The two Sonatinas and the Partita are the works in the program that lean more toward the avant-garde; however, although they are certainly not as easy on the ear as the other selections, neither are they the kind of dissonant, pounding piano works that the term “avant-garde” might scare one into fearing – in fact, they’re quite listenable. Sandwiched between the two Sonatinas is Für Anna Maria, brief but touching, and then after Partita come the tender Lamentate, and the simple but expressive Hymn to a Great City (on which Osokins performs on two pianos). The CD closes with a second version of Für Alina, this one recorded more distantly, producing a haunting effect. Interestingly, time seems to be almost suspended, dreamlike, but the timing is the same as for the opening track. (By the way, the streaming version of this album includes three more compositions, two pleasant, but one, titled Diagrams, that is on the prickly side – nice that it was left off the CD). This is a fascinating release, well worth seeking out.