Arvo Pärt

Which Was The Son Of ...

In which Was the Son of... for mixed a cappella-choir Arvo Pärt uses the Genealogy of Jesus in accordance with the Gospel of Luke. (St Luke 3, 23 -28). While the Magnificat from Luke Chapter I - the Song of Mary - and the Nunc dimittis from Luke Chapter 2 - the Song of Simeon - are obviously set-able texts for a composer, the same cannot necessarily be said of Luke's Genealogy of Jesus in the following chapter. To some composers indeed, this long Iist of names might seem no more enticing to set than the proverbial telephone directory. For Pärt, however, it was more than just a technical challenge or the possibility of ritual-like musical repetition. The attraction to this text (in its 'traditional and authoritative' translation, according to Pärt) came bound up with the nature of the commission itself- the singers the piece was for and the country it was premiered in. (Meurig Bowen)