Hyperion Records

Vytautas Miškinis’s Pater noster opens with pulsing cluster-chords; the effect is hushed and expectant. Gradually, unsynchronized entries in the lower parts build a static, aleatoric texture whose glowing E minor modality is subtly piqued by G sharps from the basses. The mood is prayerful and meditative. There is one ecstatic fortissimo outburst but elsewhere the dynamic rarely rises above pianissimo; the gentle pulsation is ever-present and, shepherded by a lone soprano’s endlessly repeated Amens, the work eventually recedes into inaudibility.

from notes by Gabriel Jackson © 2010