From the opening church bell sounds, you realize that Tintinnabulum isn"t your typical organ recital CD. Instead, Winter & Winter has made an album of sonic connections, a disc that sits the haunting "tintinnabuli" style works of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt alongside 16th and 17th century works by John Redford, William Byrd, and others. Whether from Pärt or his forebears, the music played here is gorgeous and sparse, and organist Lorenzo Ghielmi performs it with solid authority. The programming is innovative enough (church bell field recordings are sporadically introduced between tracks), but Pärt"s Annum per Annum is the real showstopper. The nine-minute work emphasizes the organ"s ability to create both distorted drones and stark lyricism; it"s one of the composer"s best short pieces. In typical Winter & Winter fashion, the packaging on this disc is beautiful and the liner notes are nonexistent. But even without a solid explanation for why these works were chosen for this disc, you can hear their brilliance and draw your own conclusions. A must-have for organ music lovers. --Jason Verlinde