Nearly 40 years separates Arvo Pärt's last symphony, Symphony No. 3, from this new work. The subtitle for Symphony No. 4, which is nearly 40 minutes long, is “Los Angeles”-the world premiere of the symphony took place in Los Angeles in January
Pärt dedicated his great composition to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who is held in prison in Russia. “With my composition, I would like to reach out, extending a hand to this prisoner and through him to all those imprisoned without rights in Russia. I wish him peace of soul notwithstanding the circumstances, and I hope that my carrier pigeon one day reaches faraway Siberia,” the composer wrote in the dedication of his Symphony No. 4.
Illustration: Andrus Peegel