Consort 8
Lamento
Saturday April 1, 2023
Vater Unser uses most of the text of the Lord’s Prayer and was written in 2005 for a boy soprano or countertenor with piano accompaniment. In 2013, Pärt arranged the piece for countertenor and string quintet, which premiered on 3 October 2013 in Wollongong, Australia, performed by the countertenor Andreas Scholl and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The simple, curving melody line and the harmony of the string accompaniment highlight the idea in the text of “forgive us our sins ... as we forgive ...”. The text is intoned with childlike simplicity over gently oscillating viols supported by a placid bass line.