Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
We performed Arvo Pärt‘s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten with conductor Zachary Schwartzman this past March in a livestreamed, physically distanced concert from the Fisher Center at Bard. In her notes on the piece, TŌN violinist Sabrina Parry quotes Pärt upon his learning of the English composer’s death: “Why should the date of Benjamin Britten’s death [December 4, 1976] touch such a chord in me? Evidently it was only in that moment that I matured enough to realize the magnitude of such a loss. Inexplicable feelings of duty, or even more than that, arose in me—I had just discovered Britten for myself. Not a very long time before his death, I recalled my impression of his music’s rare purity.” You can read Sabrina’s full concert notes by clicking here.