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 CrySongs from Childhood (I Am Already Big)Symphony No 1 (“Polyphonic” Sonatina No 1 NekrologCollage über BACHUkuaru WaltzFestina LenteCredoQuintettinoSymphony No 3 When Sarah Was Ninety Years Old (excerpt)MagnificatArbosFür AlinaSummaFratresTabula Rasa Missa SyllabicaHymn to a Great CityDe ProfundisCantus in Memoriam Benjamin BrittenSpiegel im SpiegelPassioBerlin Mass Estonian LullabyVater UnserOrient and OccidentWhich Was the Son Of…Littlemore TractusAnd I Heard a Voice

Presented by Kate MollesonProduced 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