Arvo Pärt’s Newman-inspired Littlemore Tractus sets the tone for this disc both musically and thematically. As Kai Kutman’s notes point out, the work implicitly relates to the 19th-century genre of the tract as an instructional, or explicative, theological text, but also to the tract as a liturgical genre, and by extension a ‘Tractus in the liturgy of human life’. The album contains several reworkings of earlier works, including this chamber-orchestra version of the Tractus.

Particularly striking in this respect are the Greater Antiphons, whose sharply edged choral textures are transferred to the medium of string orchestra. I confess that I do not find that they have the same incisive power thus arranged as the vocal originals do, beautiful as they are.

I still find the Cantique des degrés astounding, with its utterly unexpected classical-era freshness, but These Words … for string orchestra and percussion is just as impressive in a different way, venturing into that richness of string texture that the composer exploited so successfully in La Sindone. An original and intriguing collection of works, this, with beautiful recorded sound, as always, and outstanding performances of passion and precision guided by the presiding genius of Tõnu Kaljuste.