keigh

I didn't see a post for this so I'll add one. This is one of my favorite modern and living composers who I first heard on college radio. The photo at the bottom of this page is him.

Arvo Part was born in 1935 in Estonia, an eastern european country south of Finland boarding the Soviet Union and north of Latvia. The occupation of his country by the Soviet Union had a dramatic affect on his music. By his early 20s, he was already being commissioned for film scores and was considered a professional composer.

By the 60s, he began to experiment with different compositional techniques like serialism (where a set of all 12 musical notes are played once before being repeated, employing , pitch, duration, intensity, octaves, ) and collage (a "cut & paste" type of technique, a by-product of the invention and experimentation of multi-tracking recording. This is now the basis for alot of hip hop where samples are taken from outside sources and new music is built around it.) After his music being harshly criticized, he underwent a series of non-activity while studying and writing religious choral music from the 14 and 16 century.

In the 70s, he re-emerged with a newly created technique he calls "tintinnabuli". This technique uses a form of minimalism and is based on a system of triads and contrary movements. This became his voice and he employs it in much of his work from simple piano and violin pieces to full choral and orchestral works. Some of his best known compositions are "Tabula Rasa", Fratres and "Cantus".

In the 80s, he came to the attention of german producer Manfred Eicher who owns the record label, ECM. Prior to meeting Part, Eicher's label had been known for featuring mostly exceptional-quality european jazz as well as American artists like Keith Jarett, Chick Corea, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Pat Metheny. Eicher created an orchestral composition division of ECM and featured Part, Steve Reich, John Adams, Merideth Monk and other artists who were creating cutting edge modern classical music. ECM recorded and released the first of Part's music to be heard outside of the Soviet bloc. Part's music has become very popular among western orchestras and neo-classical fans and is often used in films and his choral music is very popular among choirs and ensemble around the world.

YouTube - Arvo Pärt - Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten - Datenverarbeiter Video

YouTube - Arvo Part 'Fratres I'

YouTube - Silentium001

The third one, "Silentium" is one of the movements of Tabula Rasa. There's a better version in my mp3 player on my profile.


List of movies using Part's music:
Arvo Pärt

Attached Images

biography2.jpg (38.2 KB, 0 views)

mfarida

Hi keigh, I am also new like you and interested for music enjoy. My name is Mfarida, I am from Bangle of India. and I'm a brand spanking new Music Banter member and
Love all kinds of music. Recently I have joined to Band Music Party and what have you? I was raised on Yes and King Crimson, moved onto hiphop, ate a lot of mushrooms and became fascinated with the sound of machines humming around peoples houses. I like this community so far.

la_picker

Love this guy. I can't believe how much of his stuff is on YouTube. It's official: YouTube rocks!

Keigh wrote: "...compositional techniques like serialism (where a set of all 12 musical notes are played once before being repeated, employing pitch, duration, intensity, octaves)..."

I know I'm picking nits here, but 12 tone technique, the development of which is largely credited to Arnold Schoenberg, is only considered a form of serialism. There are several more transformational techniques in addition to the ones you listed, including transposition, inversion, and retrograde.

Great post Keigh!

keigh

Yah, La. I know I throw a few musical terms around sometimes bt only know half the story. BUSTED!! haha.

la_picker

Oh no Keigh..please, not my intention at all! Having posts on here that give the opportunity to discuss things like musical serialism is what keeps me coming back. And seriously, I wasn't trying to do a gotcha, just pitching my 2 cents in.

That was by far my favorite semester in music theory, so I was actually paying attention for a change. :-)

keigh

It's ok. My knowledge of serialism, 12 tone and all that stuff is more in practical use than actually being able to explain it properly. It's good that there's someone on here who I can talk to about this type of music.

la_picker

btw, speaking of modern living composers, since you're into Arvo Part I'd bet that you would (or do) like Phillip Glass too.

keigh

Phillip Glass was one of the first minimalists I ever got into. One of the local college stations played the entire "Einstein on the Beach" opera in the early 80s. Amazing piece of music. I think I still have the cassette I taped it on though Im afraid to play it these days cuz it might crumble apart haha.

I also like John Adams and Robert Ashley.