Arvo Pärt, anyone?

[Rocky1990]

He's like one of those classical composers back then everyone knows, whose music is instantly identified and incomparable to anyone else. The only difference is, he lives today!

If you're not familiar with his works, check out the following links:

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=c08i_9gumJs&feature=related

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bvfr5JzClI&feature=related

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=vRDtrsuIEk8

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=k0h4uUqe8Tk

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=e348n660zrA&feature=related

[nikolas]

After buying a few scores of him (ouch expensive stuff back in the 90s), getting 5-6 different CDs and getting a book of analysis from Oxford press, I have to say that I "got over him". I just switched styles very quickly and I was never a fan of "Gregorian Chant like" music. Not that it's that simple, or that I didn't enjoy the idea of Tintinabuly, not at all! Just that I'm not a fan anymore... Maybe it's just me...

I'm also not enjoying Schnittke so much right now (who I picked up at the same period as Arvo).

People change I guess.

BTW, Lots of links in this thread: Brilliant! :)

[Gregory Shaw]

I have to say that I "got over him".

I know what you mean. Times change. I think his (then) new 'simplicity', sounds maybe 'simplistic' now.

Clever guy, though, in his own way.

[Pingu]

I'm in the same boat as Nikolas. I got recordings of his complete works - even all those from his Serial period - and a bunch of scores, and went Arvo Part nuts, for about a year.

Then I found I just wasn't in the mood. I used to be a very introspective guy, with many hours a day of solitude, and Part's music was great. But now I live about 3 busy lives, and I simply can't hear anything in it anymore. There is a profound core of inner peace in his works, and you really need to have a place inside that reflects it, or the music just sounds trivial.

Occasionally I make an attempt - last time was a ferry crossing, really early in the morning. I knew I'd be the only one who ventured out on deck, so I took my ipod, went out and faced the horizon as the sun rose, and listened to his Passio. But it didn't really do anything for me the way it did when I was a student.

I find I've also got over Ligeti, Penderecki, Birtwistle and several others who used to really excite me.

[Rocky1990]

I'm in the same boat as Nikolas. I got recordings of his complete works - even all those from his Serial period - and a bunch of scores, and went Arvo Part nuts, for about a year.

Then I found I just wasn't in the mood. I used to be a very introspective guy, with many hours a day of solitude, and Part's music was great. But now I live about 3 busy lives, and I simply can't hear anything in it anymore. There is a profound core of inner peace in his works, and you really need to have a place inside that reflects it, or the music just sounds trivial.

Occasionally I make an attempt - last time was a ferry crossing, really early in the morning. I knew I'd be the only one who ventured out on deck, so I took my ipod, went out and faced the horizon as the sun rose, and listened to his Passio. But it didn't really do anything for me the way it did when I was a student.

I find I've also got over Ligeti, Penderecki, Birtwistle and several others who used to really excite me.

I agree one has to be really sensitive for his music and I'm really trying to become as open to the spirit of music as possible :)

[Gregory Shaw]

I dont personally hear him to be that profound a musical thinker. I dont have the complete collected works to refer to though, lol.

Just my very subjective opinion, of course, and if he deeply moves you, then thats great.:)

[Pingu]

I dont personally hear him to be that profound a musical thinker. I dont have the complete collected works to refer to though, lol.

Just my very subjective opinion, of course, and if he deeply moves you, then thats great.:)

No, I think you're quite right; he can be extremely inconsistent. Many of his earlier works barely hang together, are very naive (in that you can hear the 'concept' of the work, rather than the music), and just don't make satisfying listening. Equally, now that he's started trying to expand the pallette of his new style, I find his pieces rambling. I'm not sure that, as a composer, he has a natural feel for music or form.

Ironically, it's the core works of his Tintinabuli style that I find profound. I say ironically, because they're largely composed through a system, in which durations of notes, and the structure of the piece are generated through a quasi-mathematical treatment of the text. In a way, once he'd done the work of devising the system, these are the works that contain the least of Part's own free input, and also his most coherent pieces.

Possibly a lot of the profundity that I hear also has to do with the fact that I have the Hilliard Ensembles recordings. They could make almost anything sound great, and they've recorded in a room with an absolutely gorgeous reverb. I imagine it's entirely possible to make extremely flat recordings of Part's works, which do look horrendously naive on the page.

[Coriolano]

I heard about him just a week ago. I was driving my car and I listening a classical radio station. It was his 'Cantus in Memory Of Benjamin Britten". His music caught my attention from the first moment. When I arrived home, I started searching for his name on the Internet. Now, I'm beginning to listen some of his wonderful music

[Pingu]

I heard about him just a week ago. I was driving my car and I listening a classical radio station. It was his 'Cantus in Memory Of Benjamin Britten". His music caught my attention from the first moment. When I arrived home, I started searching for his name on the Internet. Now, I'm beginning to listen some of his wonderful music

Have a listen to the Passio and Miserere first. My ears have kind of got tired of them, but they were my two favourite pieces for a long time.