The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, led by Tōnu Kaljuste, propel [the First Symphony] onward, drawing a shape from the swirling sonic mass…The Fourth (2008) owes as much to silence as it does to sound – a reality neatly observed by Kaljuste.

‘Symphonist’ is not a description often applied to Arvo Pärt. Yet the Four works contained on this disc…form important landmarks along a journey that is revealed to be neither straightforward nor easy…the fourth’s large-scale architectural dimensions are perfectly shaped and proportioned in the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic’s performance under Tonu Kaljuste.

Some 45 years separate Arvo Pärt’s first and fourth symphonies; and a world separates them in terms of expression. The Wrocław orchestra traverses both languages with supreme confidence, caught in a demonstration standard recording. ...the second symphony (1966), like the first, is fundamentally dodecaphonic, but quotes a Tchaikovsky piano piece towards the end to powerful effect. The third symphony (1971) is a transitional work, far more tonal and Church-Slavonic influenced. The more recent fourth symphony, Los Angeles (2008), speaks in a concentrated, profound and interior manner, beautifully presented.

For many years the Estonian conductor Tönu Kaljuste has been one of the most prolific and substantial interpreters of Arvo Pärt’s musical cosmos. His sublime and differentiated reading of the four Symphonies not only presents a journey through different compositional styles, such as neo-classical, serialist, gregorian-chant or church-slavonic-influenced and traditional, but also a deep understanding of the composer’s spiritual quest.