1. Tabula Rasa: I.

Ludus -- Con moto (Arvo Prt)

2. Tabula Rasa: II. Silentium -- Senza moto (Arvo Prt)
3. Company for String Orchestra: Movement I (Philip Glass)
4. Company for String Orchestra: Movement II (Philip Glass)
5. Company for String Orchestra: Movement III (Philip Glass)
6. Company for String Orchestra: Movement IV (Philip Glass)
7. "Come In!": Movement I (Vladimir Martynov)
8. "Come In!": Movement II (Vladimir Martynov)
9. "Come In!": Movement III (Vladimir Martynov)
10. "Come In!": Movement IV (Vladimir Martynov)
11. "Come In!": Movement V (Vladimir Martynov)
12. "Come In!": Movement VI (Vladimir Martynov)
13. Darf ich (Arvo Prt)
Silencio is a meditative collection of 20th-century works for string orchestra, including works by
Arvo Prt, Philip Glass, and Vladimir Martynov. The disc is bookended with works by Prt, whose
Tabula Rasa opens the disc. The work was written for and dedicated to Kremer, violinist Tatjana
Grindenko and conductor Eri Klas (all featured on this recording), who premiered it in 1977 in
Estonia. It was recorded live for release on ECM later that year. Tabula Rasa is scored for string
orchestra, solo violins and prepared piano.
Philip Glass's Company was originally composed for a Public Theater production of a play based on
Samuel Beckett's short novel of the same name. Later it became Glass's String Quartet # 2 and
received its first recording by Kronos Quartet, on their self-titled debut, in 1986. It is heard here in
an adaptation for string orchestra.
The Russian composer Vladimir Martynov wrote "Come in!" for Kremer and Grindenko, who
premiered the work in Leningrad in 1988. A six-movement work for two solo violins and string
orchestra, it takes its title from the following text, written by the composer:
The staircase to Heaven is inside your heart; you enter through the door of your soul.
Our whole life is but an attempt to find this miraculous entrance.
All our deeds are but a timid knocking on this mysterious door
All our hopes are to hear a voice that would respond, 'Come In!'
Closing the disc is the world premiere recording of Arvo Prt's Darf ich... (May I), recorded in
Berlin last year.
Kremer founded the Kremerata Baltica, an orchestra of young musicians from the three Baltic
States, in 1996. They first performed in Riga, Latvia in February 1997. Kremer had long sought to
share his rich artistic experience with young musicians in his native Latvia and the Baltic region,
and was prompted to form a more lasting relationship with the artists, as a way to give back to the
community that fostered his own musical growth. The Kremerata Baltica is made up of musicians
whose average age is 25 and who hail from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Kremer, who acts as the
group's artistic director, said, in an interview for The New York Times, that it functions as "a
musical democracy...open-minded, self-critical, a continuation of my musical spirit."
The Kremerata Baltica, who the Los Angeles Times calls, "...extraordinary young players...they
animate everything their bows touch..." recently signed an exclusive, six-record agreement with

Nonesuch Records, inaugurated earlier this year by the release of Eight Seasons. This
reorchestration of Piazzolla's Cuatro estaciones porteas, paired with the Vivaldi classic, brings with
it a new way of listening to both works, and the possibility of discovering the connections they
share.