Composer of the Week - Arvo Pärt

Composer of the Week celebrates the 90th birthday of Arvo Pärt, one of the world’s most-performed and recognisable living composers. A composer who had the courage to defy Soviet edicts, to spend years searching for answers, to invent a personal language that pivots on past and present, on sound, silence and clarity. This week, Kate Molleson explores Pärt’s landmark works and extraordinary story in conversation with his son Michael.

Music Featured:

The Deer’s Cry Songs from Childhood (I Am Already Big) Symphony No 1 (“Polyphonic” Sonatina No 1 Nekrolog Collage über BACH Ukuaru Waltz Festina Lente Credo Quintettino Symphony No 3 When Sarah Was Ninety Years Old (excerpt) Magnificat Arbos Für Alina Summa Fratres Tabula Rasa Missa Syllabica Hymn to a Great City De Profundis Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten Spiegel im Spiegel Passio Berlin Mass Estonian Lullaby Vater Unser Orient and Occident Which Was the Son Of… Littlemore Tractus And I Heard a Voice

Presented by Kate Molleson Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Arvo Pärt https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002g1r7

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Published on Friday, 1st August 2025.

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