Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Here is something to life our spirits as we struggle on during lock-down. Belgian pianist Julien Brocal discovered the voice of Cai Thomas as he recuperated from COVID-19 in March and was immediately struck by the purity and clarity of tone he heard. He already had plans to record Arvo Pärt's "Vater Unser" ("Our Father") as part of an album set for 2021 release and knew he had found the voice he needed. With the help of their label Rubicon, Julien and Cai were able to collaborate from afar, recording a video of this track at their respective homes in Brussels in Belgium and Farnham in England. With the wonders of modern technology this duet at a distance comes together very well indeed. Pärt's setting of the Lord's Prayer is entirely appropriate being, on first listen, suitably simple yet, as we hear it again, we realise there is much more to it. Treble Cai Thomas's debut album 'Seren' ('Star') has been warmly welcomed and not just by this reviewer. Julien Brocal is a new name to me but I expect to hear more from him in the future. Arvo Pärt' is one of the giants of contemporary classical music and should need no introduction but if you have yet to visit his wonderful world this makes a good introduction. While the track is short and sweet it will stay with you and if it draws us back to considering the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples then we will all be the better for it.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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