Loading details…
Artist
Arvo Pärt
12+ albums
contemporary classicalClassicaltintinnabulirobertitus globalclasicram
about
Arvo Pärt (born 11 September 1935 in Paide, Estonia) is an Estonia classical composer, who works in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabulation and hypnotic repetitions that are also influenced by the intellectual counterpoint elements of European jazz, but fits a European-American classical post-modernism, rather than so-called world music. Continuing struggles with Soviet officials led him to emigrate in 1980 with his wife and their two sons. Pärt lived first in Vienna, Austria, where he took Austrian citizenship, and then re-located to Berlin, Germany, where he still lives. His most familiar works are Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten for string orchestra and bell (1977) and the string quintet "Fratres I" (1977, revised 1983), which he orchestrated for string orchestra and percussion, the solo violin "Fratres II" and the cello ensemble "Fratres III" (both 1980). Pärt is often identified with the school of minimalism and, more specifically, that of mystic minimalism or sacred minimalism.[4] He is considered a pioneer of this style, along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener. Although his fame initially rested on instrumental works such as Tabula Rasa and Spiegel im Spiegel, his choral works have also come to be widely appreciated. Pärt's musical education began at age seven. He began attending music school in Rakvere, where his family lived. By the time he reached his early teen years, Pärt was writing his own compositions. While studying composition
