Classical Music Discoveries

Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to share a new, meditative recording of Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel from Icelandic composer, conductor and producer Viktor Orri Árnason. The audio version of this extended single, on which Árnason plays both viola and piano, comes out on 8 September 2023. A music video, which the artist describes as a “moving painting”, will follow on 11 September, Pärt’s 88th birthday. The track will also act as a prelude to the artist’s debut DG album, a project he has developed in collaboration with soprano Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir and which is set for release later this year.  

An early example of Pärt’s tintinnabular style, the mesmeric masterpiece that is Spiegel im Spiegel was originally written for violin and piano but now exists in multiple versions. Árnason more than captures its sense of stillness and serenity in his intimate interpretation, slowing the tempo to amplify its reflective qualities. He plays the mirrored ascending and descending phrases of the melodic line on the viola. Beneath this, bell-like piano notes sound in the accompaniment, like raindrops softly falling into a pool of water. Árnason made and mixed the recording at his home studio in Iceland, and the track was mastered by Zino Mikorey in Berlin.

1 Rodd 

2 Na´ttmyrkrið 

3 Vera 

4 Orð og draumar 

5 Blikna 

6 Til kvæðagyðjunnar 

7 Ljo´ssins kno¨rr 

8 Li´kaminn er þaninn fiðlustrengur 

9 Jo¨rðin bi´ður 

10 Handan við haf 

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This album is broadcast with the permission of Crossover Media Music Promotion (Zachary Swanson and Amanda Bloom).