Mirrors in Mirrors.
A contemplation on eternity.
"Starts out sounding simply religious, but winds up transcendent." (Dilberto, "Pärt: Kanon Polajanen.")
You might be familiar with this piece. It has been used in several films and television. It is a prime example of tintinnabular style, characterized by an arpeggiated triad in one voice, and another voice moving stepwise in a diatonic fashion. Invented by the composer, this style usually has a slow, meditative quality about it. Minimalism, purity, serenity.
"Art presents a . . . complex situation . . . many art objects of the past appear to be more contemporary than our present art. How do we explain it? Art has to deal with eternal questions, not the sorting out the issues of today." -Arvo Pärt (quoted in Hiller: Arvo Pärt, 19)
The piece acts as a mirror of itself in several different cycles. The almost serialist way of composing creates a mystical chant-like sound that is both peaceful, contemplative, and deeply upsetting. Pärt's tintinnabuli style connects the centuries creating music that sounds like it belongs to no time period, yet somehow belongs to all time.
"We are, after all, gazing at, or rather listening to, a mirror within a mirror." (Cizmic, "Transcending the Icon," 68)
"Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers - in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises - and everything that is unimportant falls away."
- Arvo Pärt
"And death shall be no more, death thou shalt die." - John Donne, Holy Sonnet X
"Pity" William Blake (1795)
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