Arvo Pärt, Latvian Radio Choir, Sinfonietta Riga, Vox Clamantis, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tõnu Kaljuste

Adam's Lament gathers eight works by Arvo Pärt for choir and string orchestra, all in premiere recordings and several in versions the composer had recently reworked. At its centre is the 24-minute title piece, a setting of words by the Orthodox monk Silouan of Athos (1866-1938) about Adam as the figure of all humanity. Sacred music predominates, by turns monumental and fragile. In January 2014 the album won the Grammy for Best Choral Performance.

Tõnu Kaljuste conducts two sets of forces. The Latvian Radio Choir, Vox Clamantis and Sinfonietta Riga perform the first five works, while the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra take L'Abbé Agathon and the two lullabies. Soprano Tui Hirv and baritone Rainer Vilu are the soloists. Most of the music was recorded in November 2011 at Niguliste Church in Tallinn, the lullabies in the same church in May 2007. Manfred Eicher produced, and Pärt took part in the sessions, as on all his ECM albums. The title work was co-commissioned by the European Capitals of Culture Istanbul 2010 and Tallinn 2011, and Kaljuste gave its premiere at Hagia Eirene in Istanbul on 7 June 2010.

Adam's Lament is sung in Russian, from Silouan's writings as collected by his disciple Archimandrite Sophrony, to whom Pärt dedicated the piece. "Adam is all of us who bear his legacy", the composer writes in the booklet. Beatus Petronius and Statuit ei Dominus, both from 1990 and revised in 2011, set two choirs against eight woodwinds and strings, with tubular bells added in the first. Salve Regina (2001/2011), dedicated to Hubert Luthe, Bishop of Essen, brings a celesta into the string texture. L'Abbé Agathon (2004/2008) pairs soprano and baritone with female choir, and the Estonian Lullaby and Christmas Lullaby close the disc in a gentler register.

Barry Witherden gave the album five stars in BBC Music Magazine in 2013, praising its "pellucid sound and simple yet sumptuous textures". He felt that an element of unease gives the newer works extra weight. In MusicWeb International the same year, Dominy Clements called the title work "a masterpiece which will haunt you and bring you back again and again", and singled out the lullabies for their intimacy.

CD edition of ECM New Series 2225, first released on 12 October 2012, with liner notes by Pärt and David Sanson.