LA Philharmonic/Esa- Pekka Salonen, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Tõnu Kaljuste,ECM New Series 476 3957 ***

Arvo Pärt's Fourth Symphony of 2008, his first since 1971, was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, which here delivers its première recording. The work's subtitle , Los Angeles, refers not only to the commissioner, but also to the piece's underlying text, the Canon of the Guardian Angel.

The piece is scored for strings, harp and percussion, is in three movements and lasts 35 minutes. It opens with high, floating strings, rather in the mood of the opening of Verdi's La Traviata, and moves with steady, pulsing grace, sometimes powerfully, most often poignantly. Without words and the blended textures of human voices, the material doesn't sustain as well as in Pärt's choral music, as the excerpts from Tõnu Kaljuste's 1997 recording of the related Kanon pokajanenattest.

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