If you're going to listen to a choral work, it's worth looking first for recordings by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, as Pärt often collaborates with them (sits in on performances, recordings; he's Estonian himself so there's a 'cultural collection').
† On a historical note, the "Te Deum" is one of the earliest Christians hymns we know about (and that is still used), apparently dating back to before 500 AD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Deum
tgv · 4m ago
For me, "Pari Intervallo" is also a highlight. It's very simple in conception, just like his other works, and uses the tintinnabulli style in a slow canon with (as the title says) fixed intervals very effectively. It wasn't composed for a particular instrument. I like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjUBhXi-0aY
"Für Alina", same style, written for piano, here with score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXy69eF__Y, so you can see how simple it really is. Don't believe that simplicity is all there is to it, though. There are many composers of "simple" music nowadays, and most, like Einaudi, produce nothing but trite musical wall paper.
It wasn't mentioned in the article, but I think it's fair to say that Pärt has brought a small revolution to (classical) music.
gsinclair · 8h ago
Tabula Rasa is such a beautiful modern masterpiece.
pimeys · 50m ago
The performance of Fratres, for violin & piano with Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarret from the 80's is one of the best classical performances in my collection. It's so amazing, and with good headphones, the timbre of the violin and Kremer's high notes are absolutely gorgeous.
I was lucky enough to see a performance by the Estonian Festival Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonics a few years back. The whole full big room was dead quiet and listening, it was so good.
airesQ · 9h ago
There's a slower and arguably better version of Pärt's "De Profundis":
There is no way I can start listening to Fratres without tears appearing in my eyes. It's a work of an impossible master mind, a piece that converts the performer's precision into the listener's frisson. A cathartic experience, every single time.
pimeys · 48m ago
I was not into classical _at all_. Until I heard Tabula Rasa for the first time. Since then I've been in many concerts and hunting down the best classical performances as SACD to my collection.
antognini · 5h ago
In addition to his more substantial pieces that others have mentioned, the real turning point in his music was a very small piece called Für Alina:
Prior to this he had composed in the dissonant, serialist style that was expected of "serious" art music in the middle of the 20th century. This was the first piece where he broke with the contemporary style and introduced his unique "tintinnabuli" style.
If you have even a basic familiarity with music theory it's worth taking a look at the structure of the piece because it's surprisingly simple for the effect. As the right hand plays the melody, the left hand simply plays notes from a b minor chord, with the particular note being whatever is just beyond one octave below the note that the right hand is playing. However there is one exception towards the end where the left hand plays a C# instead of a D as it would be expected to, and this marks the climax of the piece.
lukeh · 4h ago
If you are ever in Tallinn, it’s well worth the visit to the Arvo Pärt Centre.
This piece always brings me to tears. I was lucky enough to meet Part, have a brief conversation and shake his hand after a performance in Hamburg… A moment I will never forget.
Not a fan of Pärt myself, but Zelenka is a good one to pair with Bach (they were contemporaries and knew each other, holding each other in high esteem).
qwertox · 11h ago
You mean "god", right?
kaonwarb · 11h ago
These two composers certainly meant God.
smallerize · 9h ago
In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Pärt a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
tern · 10h ago
"God" is capitalized for the same reason "Earth" or "the Universe" is capitalized. What precisely is meant may differ, but it's rich even for a materialist to argue that the name for the personification of the ground of being shouldn't be capitalized (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptions_of_God)
Pärt leans towards a form of minimalism, which not everyone likes. Some of the works I personally lean towards are:
* "Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfvO3dJqFY
* "De Profundis": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vOSKaKJ1QY
* "Te Deum"† (~30m): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNxbT0MESTY
* "Fratres" (for cello and piano): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4XMjsYeMig
* "Fratres" (for violin and piano): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PS5QMsGaRw
* "Fratres" (for violin, chambre orchestra, percussion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9I-6QPT8Is
* the Tabula rasa album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YqF69HLkj8
If you're going to listen to a choral work, it's worth looking first for recordings by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, as Pärt often collaborates with them (sits in on performances, recordings; he's Estonian himself so there's a 'cultural collection').
† On a historical note, the "Te Deum" is one of the earliest Christians hymns we know about (and that is still used), apparently dating back to before 500 AD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Deum
"Für Alina", same style, written for piano, here with score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXy69eF__Y, so you can see how simple it really is. Don't believe that simplicity is all there is to it, though. There are many composers of "simple" music nowadays, and most, like Einaudi, produce nothing but trite musical wall paper.
It wasn't mentioned in the article, but I think it's fair to say that Pärt has brought a small revolution to (classical) music.
I was lucky enough to see a performance by the Estonian Festival Orchestra in the Berlin Philharmonics a few years back. The whole full big room was dead quiet and listening, it was so good.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twzmflIdYmw
I have a CD of Hillier's album (one of the first ways I was exposed to Pärt):
* https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lmpgHbTQHjWV6o...
See Summa (Credo) and perhaps Seven Magnificat Antiphons in it.
Excerpts of it were later featured in a French movie called L'Apparition whose soundtrack features a lot of Pärt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apparition_(2018_film)
I have a few of Hillier's Pärt CDs:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04XKjal0grI
There is no way I can start listening to Fratres without tears appearing in my eyes. It's a work of an impossible master mind, a piece that converts the performer's precision into the listener's frisson. A cathartic experience, every single time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXy69eF__Y
Prior to this he had composed in the dissonant, serialist style that was expected of "serious" art music in the middle of the 20th century. This was the first piece where he broke with the contemporary style and introduced his unique "tintinnabuli" style.
If you have even a basic familiarity with music theory it's worth taking a look at the structure of the piece because it's surprisingly simple for the effect. As the right hand plays the melody, the left hand simply plays notes from a b minor chord, with the particular note being whatever is just beyond one octave below the note that the right hand is playing. However there is one exception towards the end where the left hand plays a C# instead of a D as it would be expected to, and this marks the climax of the piece.
https://youtu.be/T2WuzKeDx8U