Arvo Pärt

Throughout Arvo Part's career, he has demonstrated a voracious musical curiosity and daring experimental spirit that has allowed him to move beyond a secure place as Estonia's premiere composer to become perhaps the best known choral and sacred music scorist of his time. 30 years of musical experimentation with influences as wide ranging as Russian neo-classicism, Western modernism, Schoenbergian dedecaphony, minimalism, polytonality, Gregorian chant and collage have led him to the creation of a distinctively sparse technique he calls "tintinnabulation." This method, which takes its name from the Latin word for bells, places unusual emphasis on individual notes and makes extensive use of silence. "I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played, " says Part. "This one note ... or a moment of silence, comforts me.... I build with the most primitive materials -- with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I call it tintinnabulation." Part, a 1963 graduate of the Tallin Conservatory, began his career writing music for Estonian radio, television, film and theater. His early work drew heavily from the music of the Soviet Union, where he took up residence in the early sixties. With Necrology in 1960, Part began to explore Schoenberg's 12-tone serial method. He continued with serialism through most of the sixties, but eventually grew weary of its rigidity and began to experiment with collage technique, incorporating elements of Bach and Tchaikosky into his original compositions. This approach alienated purists, and his Credo of 1968 was banned in Estonia. Part then abandoned pastiche and entered a period of studious hibernation during which he examined medieval and Renaissance choral music....