Arvo Pärt: Kanon Pokajanen

The music chosen for the performances in Ballintubber Abbey and St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral in Dublin is Pärt’s Kanon Pokajanen. Sung in Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of the Slavic Orthodox churches, Kanon Pokajanen is a canon of repentance which describes the appearance of Christ in the world. It is one of the earliest rituals in the Orthodox Church liturgy and it is still sung in Orthodox monasteries at the break of day.

Paul Hillier, in his recent collection of essays (On Pärt, Copenhagen – Theater of Voices Edition - 2005), wrote about Kanon Pokajanen:
“As a concert work it opens up to us what has hitherto been the composer’s other, private world of Russian Orthodoxy. In addition to its significance as a piece of music, I see this work as Pärt’s most personal artistic statement to date, although I very much doubt it was intended in that way.”

As Hillier also points out, the venue plays an integral part in the performance of this music:
“Certain kinds of music can only thrive in certain kinds of places where the acoustics and the architecture conspire to create the right conditions. This is a question of atmosphere – not just the degree of dryness or resonance in a hall, nor yet the beauty of its design and decoration, but a coming together of all these elements, together with its history and, equally important, the manner in which it is being used today.
(…) For this kind of music it is as if the nature of the space – acoustics, appearance, atmosphere - were part of the composition or indeed an instrument itself on which the music is to be played. This observation holds especially true for certain kinds of liturgical music, especially that of the Orthodox Church."

There can hardly be more appropriate venues to experience performances of this prayer of transformation than the extraordinary setting of Ballintubber Abbey, with its resonance of ancient Christian and Celtic spirituality, and St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, which traces its lineage back to the 12th century Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary’s.

Venue and music will combine to produce a profound experience for the listener: a meeting of East and West, of ancient text and modern composition, and of Celtic and Orthodox spirituality