I have been listening to this piece since Architecture school back in the 80's. It has never failed to inspire, invigorate, and provoke my feelings and creativity. This music is, for lack of better word, spiritual, and yet very romantic. I met Arvo Part in person several years ago and could see in his eyes, the divine genius it takes to compose music like this. Cheers.
I was driving home, the same old route, listening to this and suddenly, everything seemed different, more alive. The sunlight slanting though the trees, the houses, the stop sign.
"In the first tintinnabuli pieces, Pärt was not thinking about performances, and (as with medieval music) his notation was sparse. He stepped out publicly in 1977 with “Tabula Rasa.” His friend, the conductor Eri Klas, was looking for a work to accompany a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s First Concerto Grosso, which was written for two violins, harpsichord, prepared piano and string orchestra. He asked Pärt if he could deliver a piece in three months with the same orchestration. The composer complied (eliminating the harpsichord). When the new piece arrived, the orchestra players and the violin soloists, Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko, were bewildered. “We were all a bit surprised by the empty picture of the score,” Kremer told me. “It was all tonal and so transparent. There were so few notes.” The night of the concert, the auditorium in Tallinn was full. Having had only two days of rehearsal, the musicians were filled with apprehension. “They came to the concert expecting a catastrophe, even Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko, who put all their talent on every note, especially the second part, the slow part,” Pärt said. “And it was a magnet for the orchestra, and they took over this articulation. And it was wonderful. It was so still that the people could not breathe or cough, it would disrupt. It was with me the same feeling. My heartbeat was so noisy that I thought everyone could hear.” The composer Tuur, who was still a teenager, was in the audience that night. “I was carried beyond,” he told me. “I had the feeling that eternity was touching me through this music.” In the score, Pärt wrote an exceptionally long four measures of rest at the end of the piece, but the silence went on even longer. “Nobody wanted to start clapping,” Tuur said." From this article: www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17part-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Wonderful, Aeduh.; as I read your words, my tears keep flowing for my lost love as"... all the sorrow come to the eyes and, all the wounds, in tears they bleed".
This was one of the pieces that drew me back into music when I wanted to give up because no music seemed as good as silence. I learned here that there's internal noise in your head and the right kind of music can actually make it easier to find silence. The other piece is the middle of Shostakovich's second piano concerto.
When I hear this piece, I think of an endless Estonian forest in the middle of winter - only trees, pure snow and deep silence. One perceives Pärt's music more intensely when one gets to know the landscape of his native country.
The comments section is just great,I don't have anyone to talk to about this sort of music,it's so interesting to hear how people are moved by a piece of music.Many thanks to you all.
Isn't it a pain, that nearly at any other time in any other place its hard to find people that give a damn about the things one cherishes most. Its not like you could readily strike up a good conversation at the supermarket checkout about Arvo Part, its always the weather or football.
Hello, Adrian. Perhaps we could talk about such music, although you probably know much more than me. And maybe make some connection about Thorburn things, or, how goes it, talk of "shoes (?) and ships and candle wax, of cabbages and kings"!! All the best, Robert Thorburn, near London.
perhaps the ones concerned with such should just putting the adverts on the start of the videos especially with these kinds of music. But then again, who defines what is sacred music so, just saying -- but farfetched Idea i threw out eh?)
I was introduced to this piece in the1980’s in San Francisco while managing a very large occult store near Haight Street. We catered to a diverse clientele, from spiritualists, Wiccans, root workers, hippies, punks, old black ladies from the church next door, Satanists from time to time even. My day was long and filled with tales of intrigue and inspiration. I came home smelling of all the essential oils, herbs and incense we sold. Usually very fatigued. When my cellist neighbour played this track for me one day after work at the shop I started crying. Tears rolling down my cheeks. So beautiful, this piece. I slept very deeply after I went home and it’s been my absolute favourite Neo Classical music since. 💖
I disagree... this song hurts a little to listen to. it sounds like the adding on of complication and loss of innocence and simplicity as each year of your life cycles around, or as each century of human history passes. but there is so much beauty in it at the same time, it makes the pain worth it.
The 2nd part of Tabula Rasa is incredible. The way it fades away into eternity, you have the impression that it is continuing on another, eternal , plane, far beyond our human ears.To think that in an age of such crass nonsense, we are blessed to be able to hear Arvo Part remind us that" there are more things in this earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio".
Sorry, I'm a bit OCD, but the quote from Act 1 Scene 5 of Hamlet is "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."😬
Am currently writing novel seven... a hybrid novel, i.e. High Fantasy and Urban Paranormal. Check out my website: www.patriciaKmccarthy.com and thanks for asking! (Arvo is my favourite composer)
yes it's just like we need sleep. I often feel like i'm in a hurry for no reason and no time to listen to this kind of music (while paying attention) It's so relaxing.
When I listen to Arvo Part music it speaks to my soul. It says, "HEAR IS THE UNIVERSE, YOU ARE PART OF IT, IT IS BEAUTIFUL IN IT'S SIMPLEST FORM". I will try not to skrew it up.
Each piece of Pärt is one of the most beautiful pieces ever composed, however I can't often listen to his works because every single of his pieces gets me into an incredibly sad and depressed mood. Especially this one.
I bought a very discounted cd of this 25 years ago, never having heard of the composer. It is now one of my all time favorites. Three years ago I had it in the car, and my then freshman high school child put it in the car player out of curiosity. She is now hooked as well. So exquisitely beautiful. It is the theme music for my beloved mortality.
As wiki says: The composer Erkki-Sven Tuur, said about the performance: “I was carried beyond. I had the feeling that eternity was touching me through this music...nobody wanted to start clapping.” I was too.
Feelings generated by music are often described by a bunch of cliches, mostly borrowed by literature or from cinema and sometimes they are "overtranslated" in precise emotions. Music like this does certainly something to you but the very attempt of describing it is either very naive or very presumptuous.
Found a small poem in my mind while listening to the second part (10:30). The German version came first :) ------------------------ Silentium ------------------------- Welchem Himmel blickst du nach, wenn sich die Wolkendecke deiner Gedanken vor die Sterne schiebt? Wohin geht dein Blick, wenn das fahle Licht des Mondes einen Schatten fallen lässt auf dein Gesicht? Was ist dein Ziel, wenn du ihnen lauschst, den Klängen der Unendlichkeit? Es leuchtet nur ein kleines Licht, zart, einsam am dunklen Horizont, der das Meer deiner Seele vom Himmel trennt. Lass es wachsen, lass es größer werden als all das, was deine Seele an Kummer in sich trägt! Was bist du für ein Ort, an den sich all die Hoffnung hängt. Verschwinde nicht hinter den Wolken, sieh: sie folgen dir. ------------------------- Where has the sky gone, when the clouds of your thoughts hide the view of the stars? Where do you gaze, when sallow rays of moonlight cause a shadow in your face? Where do you go, if you listen to them, to the sounds of eternity? There's only one small light, tender, lonely at the dark horizon telling apart the sea of your soul from heaven. Let it grow, let it rise above everything your soul bears of grief and sorrow! What a kind of place you are, bearing all the hope in it. Surrender not to the darkness, see: They follow you.
So simple and yet certainly not simple minded This is how one well known critic spoke of his music, I have always love this music. Part has return to some of the basic building blocks of Western music. Glorious!!!!!
Que pena nadie escriba en castellano , pero el Arte no tiene limites ni fronteras,lleva el lenguaje del Alma, se expresa en los latidos del corazón, y somos uno en su ritmo, y su magia,eterna. Un saludo desde Argentina.
?? Has escuchado Spiegel im Spiegel, también es fabulosa,cada una de sus obras,son un boceto de su personalidad,donde algunos nos identificamos,en sus emociones,la musica no tiene fronteras.,lo entiendes igual !!!
His music never fails to astound you, pull you out of what ever situation or atmosphere you`re in, it takes you out of that moment and places you with in itself........... Gintarė Jautakaite
One of my favorite pieces form Arvo. i don't listen to hes choir/sacred music but I really like the minimalist pieces like this, spiegel im spiegel, für alina and fratres.
toujours aussi magique, c vraiment le terme...Un autre monde, mais proche dans la douleur de la vie. Très lancinant et sans espoir par moment. D'âmes aux abois Aux tréfonds de nos malheurs dans ses dissonances. et puis le glas, presque serein ., ET puis les battements des jours enfuis. tant d'images qui se lèvent sous nos pas
Is because of music like this that everyone must have shazam installed. I got so hypnotized while listening to this that I forgot the name of the song. Fortunately I managed to open shazam before it was too late!!
Wunderschön! Habe gestern das Ballett "Othello" in der Hamburger Staatsoper sehen dürfen. Diese Musik war mit Abstand die schönste ... Mit Gänsehautfaktor!
I am a Metal/Trance kinda guy, and I can honestly say I have found/listened to some awesome music in that genre. I found this today by mistake, I was searching for Gregorian Symphony stuff and found something else he did which led me to this. I can honestly say this sound has completely changed the way I think of this genre of music, which by the way can anyone tell me what its labelled as??? I truly believe that you could take a 1,000 years trying to find the perfect way to describe this amazing sound and never even scratch the surface.
The very first time I heard this song, I felt so special and grateful. I was certain, time stopped just for me. Perhaps it did, or perhaps I died for a moment to appreciate this master piece.
this is the first time i hear it, my pianoteacher told me to listen to it and experience the music, it is heaven and earth , the sound of an enlightened mind telling me the story of the voyage of the soul
I. Ludus - 00:00 II. Silentium - 10:30 (Thanks to César Carvelil) Mr Sinduonitria, could you please copy/past this in the description & tell us about the executors of this version? Thank you
He sat in the party thinking everything was like this, that, or the other. The people moaned and groaned and once in awhile yelled Shalom! Their hearts sang high and offbeat, trying to play catchup with the melody. Their hearts sang true in a false world. He watched eyes follow behind, he watched eyes follow behinds. He saw people talk of music and mean sex. He saw people talk of art and mean sex. He saw people talk of business and mean sex. He wondered if we were all just animals, after all. Take down the arrogance, take down the pretension, and what have you left? She entered his mind like Moses parting the Red Sea. She danced through his mind like Helen's ego must have been. She cursed his mind like every other memory. He was only a sum of his experiences, and all he learned of math was subtraction. He watched the memories in his mind. He saw her sigh softly and embrace him fully. She seemed translucent, ethereal; and she was. She seemed warm and full of love; and she was. She seemed empty and angry; and she was. He looked inward and saw his reflection. He looked skyward and saw his reflection. He looked into her eyes and saw his reflection. He looked at the photograph and saw her reflection. He looked at the whole blank slate, and saw only Pärt.
Feel no need to reply, the words form a sty and for me, I, my eyes, can only see so much. Just writing my thoughts on a cold night, a dark sky and dark sea surrounding me.
I don't know why but this poem really touched me. I've copied it for my records but I would love to put a name with it and know if you've written anything else.
Bu yorum buralarda kalsın. Kim bilir belki bu parçayı bana öneren kalbi ayrı güzel, gönlü ayrı güzel sanat aşığı kadın görür. Teşekkürlerimi iletiyorum ☺️💝🥰🤭🕺 Tekrar kez tekrar teşekkürler.
Feelings generated by music are often described by a bunch of cliches, mostly borrowed by literature or from cinema and sometimes they are "overtranslated" in precise emotions. Music like this does certainly something to you but the very attempt of describing it is either very naive or very presumptuous.
