# Is Arvo Pärt A Great Living Composer?



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Here's a description of *Tintinnabuli* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli

Pärt is a living composer born in 1935, in Estonia. He writes a lot of vocal religious music. The works often have a slow and meditative tempo, and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance. Pärt's compositional approach has expanded somewhat in the years since 1970, but the overall effect remains largely the same.

This is one of his most performed works. It leads the gateway to harmonically sound works composed in the last fifty years. It has been used many times in films as it does convey strong characterization of the emotions intended by Pärt. (I listened to it for the first time last week and I found it enjoyable.)

_Fratres_


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I voted "I don't know enough about his music to decide" for I have only just started to listen to his music a little more. I have heard of other works before some time ago but I don't really remember them.

His _Stabat Mater_ composed in 1985 is quite good:


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I really dislike his tintinnabuli technique. Drives me nuts.






https://flypaper.soundfly.com/write/how-does-arvo-part-create-enormously-emotive-music-tintinnabuli/


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

He stood out at the turn of the century with a unique voice which resonated with a lot of people, Christian and nonChristian, classical and nonclassical. I think that was when he was the most effective. After Adam's Lament and LamenTate, I lost interest. I hope someone can give an update on the merit of his recent works.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

From the sound of his music, it's hard to tell for sure if he is living.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

ArtMusic said:


> Here's a description of *Tintinnabuli* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli
> 
> Pärt is a living composer born in 1935, in Estonia. He writes a lot of vocal religious music. The works often have a slow and meditative tempo, and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance. Pärt's compositional approach has expanded somewhat in the years since 1970, but the overall effect remains largely the same.
> 
> ...


I voted I haven't heard his music, but I listened to this and didn't care for it.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

I like a few of his things. Loathe others. That wasn't a poll option.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I voted I haven't heard his music, but I listened to this and didn't care for it.


There's a version of "Fratres" by the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra that is divine. There's also a version by the California Guitar Trio which is pretty good. Oh, here they are:


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

When I think about Part, I think about this article by Alex Ross.

I have several albums of his music. There are times - not that frequent - when it's exactly what I want to hear.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I don't know and don't care whether he is a "great" composer, and don't think it is an important question.

I have listened to some of his music and thought it was time well spent.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

He was the flavor of the day a couple years back. All the hipsters had to like him.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> He was the flavor of the day a couple years back. All the hipsters had to like him.


What do you mean by "hipster"? 

I was just exploring accessible newly composed music and found one or two of his compositions I sampled more within traditional harmonic patterns.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

A "hipster" is someone who thinks Mr. Bean is cool.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I have not listened to any of his music before.
Love your pure and simple questions by the way.:tiphat:


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I like Part's Symphony no. 3, a transitional work a few years before he developed Tintinnabuli. I also love Tabula Rasa, Summa Credo, Frates, and Berliner Messe.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

NoCoPilot said:


> A "hipster" is someone who thinks Mr. Bean is cool.


That might be me then. I'm flattered.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> I have not listened to any of his music before.
> Love your pure and simple questions by the way.:tiphat:


It ain't gonna be quite like our favorite operas but I thought I give it a try, you know, just to show that I do listen to current new music composed by living composers.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Ones which I remember enjoying in concert were _Symphony 4_ and the 2019 _Sequentia_. The 4th symphony I've played on record and I think it's probably a high point of something, postmodern music maybe, it repays repeated listening.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

He is one of my favourite (living) composers. Therefore he is a great composer (is that how it works?)

Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten:


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

ArtMusic said:


> That might be me then. I'm flattered.


only if you have a car like Mr. Bean are you a true hipster


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Jacck said:


> only if you have a car like Mr. Bean are you a true hipster


But I listen to classical music. Mr. Bean is not known to listen to CM. This makes it up.


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## erki (Feb 17, 2020)

I came to know his music when I left Estonia in 1989 - odd isn't it. Living in Germany(Bayern) and USA I started to buy ECM label CDs and soon discovered Pärt as well. His music fits nicely to ECM style - kind of northern, kind of empty natural space, planes, mountains, wetlands... 
Since then I have listened into his pre-tintinabuli stuff as well, but found not much to like there.
So for me he is great.


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## Mifek (Jul 28, 2018)

ArtMusic said:


> But I listen to classical music. Mr. Bean is not known to listen to CM.


He is known to play CM.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Part's Tabula Rasa remains one of my favourite pieces of music. I love his symphonies too. So in answer to your question....yes.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

ORigel said:


> I like Part's Symphony no. 3, a transitional work a few years before he developed Tintinnabuli. I also love Tabula Rasa, Summa Credo, Frates, and Berliner Messe.


And Passio - the first piece of his I listened to.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

I used to really like some of his 70's chamber works, I still do, but his music has become a tad boring for me, and the revered choral works do nothing for me either, last time I listened to one I was begging for it to end. Just my opinion.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Nereffid said:


> He is one of my favourite (living) composers. Therefore he is a great composer (is that how it works?)
> 
> Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten:


I think that's one of Part's greatest works. It's so simple yet so powerful. As a memoriam, it expresses the famous line from Rutger Hauer: All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I like Tabula Rasa and Symphonies 1-3, plus a couple of vocal works (including the Passio), but of which he probably wrote too many. He's a bit too simple-minded or repetitive from work to work at times; the early symphonies are exciting as more thorny pieces.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

He certainly has something. But I couldn't find an option in the poll that fitted me well.


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## Aries (Nov 29, 2012)

On one hand I think I don't know enough about his music to decide. On the other hand I heard enough to decide that hearing more of his music has no priority at all. It seems hard but I think I am going for that he is a weak composer. It is an ability of great composers to catch you somehow. And others manage to do that even if they write in a vocal, religious, slow, meditative and minimalistic style too. And I think high expectations should be maintained. That about half of the living composers or more have a godawful boring style that is even worse is no excuse. Pärt's music isn't suitable as an idol for new composers even if it is somewhat better.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Just listening to his Tabula rasa album (specifically Summa '78) and I could not help but think of a possible Vaughan Williams influence. Anyone know if this is a reality - or just coincidence?


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

^Possibly, perhaps he was paying homage to the ever respectable Vaughn-Williams.


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## Jokke (Dec 28, 2013)

Arvo Pärt is very popular in Belgium. First place in the Klara Top 100. (Klara is the national classical radio)


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

An interesting case, because it is so simple, is the ubiquitous Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. There is nothing there ... and yet it is absolutely distinctive and, really, quite moving.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> An interesting case, because it is so simple, is the ubiquitous Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten. There is nothing there ... and yet it is absolutely distinctive and, really, quite moving.


Like Philip Glass quite often


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Yes I like his music, always have. Spigiel im Spigel is one I listen to quite often.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Jokke said:


> Arvo Pärt is very popular in Belgium. First place in the Klara Top 100. (Klara is the national classical radio)


Ooh, I love a list! Thanks for pointing me to this one.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

This is my favorite recording:

*Arvo Pärt*: _Kanon Pokajanen_
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tõnu Kaljuste

Release date: 30.03.1998
ECM 1654/55
Format : 2-CD

View attachment 153815


World premiere recordings of music for choir by Arvo Pärt, based on the canon of repentance of the Russian Orthodox Church. The canon had long fascinated the Estonian composer who finally decided to set it in its entirety in music written to mark the 750th anniversary of Cologne Cathedral. Pärt: 'It took over two years to compose the Kanon pokajanen, and its hold on me did not abate until I had finished the score...That may explain why this music means so much to me.' As writer Uwe Schweikert has noted, it is 'music full of austere, painful beauty.'


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> He is one of my favourite (living) composers. Therefore he is a great composer (is that how it works?)
> 
> Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten:


Agree this is really quite nice. I think what ruined it for me with Part is how he is so widely imitated, by New Age and film music, that I can't get the associations out of my mind.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I used to be a minor fan. 

But I lost interest, when I lost interest in all tonal classical music. 

I still have quite a few recordings. I may give them a spin this weekend to see if my views have changed.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Simon Moon said:


> I used to be a minor fan.
> 
> But I lost interest, when I lost interest in all tonal classical music.
> 
> I still have quite a few recordings. I may give them a spin this weekend to see if my views have changed.


Sorry to hear you lost interest in all tonal classical music, which is the vast majority of the repertoire. But I am glad you find enjoyment in atonal repertoire.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> Sorry to hear you lost interest in all tonal classical music, which is the vast majority of the repertoire. But I am glad you find enjoyment in atonal repertoire.


Yeah, when I noticed a few years ago, I no longer had interest in tonal classical music, I was not exactly happy about the situation.

A large portion of my classical music collection became unlistened to. I have not gotten rid of it, in hope I will be able to return to it some time in the future.

But in the mean time, I don't seem to have much trouble finding composers and music that fits my tastes.


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

Phil loves classical said:


> Agree this is really quite nice. I think what ruined it for me with Part is how he is so widely imitated, by New Age and film music, that I can't get the associations out of my mind.


So gorgeous..


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Simon Moon said:


> Yeah, when I noticed a few years ago, I no longer had interest in tonal classical music, I was not exactly happy about the situation.
> 
> A large portion of my classical music collection became unlistened to. I have not gotten rid of it, in hope I will be able to return to it some time in the future.
> 
> But in the mean time, I don't seem to have much trouble finding composers and music that fits my tastes.


I can imagine you might not be exactly happy with that situation. I would be, too. How did you cope with that? By resorting to atonal music?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Simon Moon said:


> Yeah, when I noticed a few years ago, I no longer had interest in tonal classical music, I was not exactly happy about the situation.
> 
> A large portion of my classical music collection became unlistened to. I have not gotten rid of it, in hope I will be able to return to it some time in the future.
> 
> But in the mean time, I don't seem to have much trouble finding composers and music that fits my tastes.


Interesting. I noticed recently you listed Penderecki as a composer you consider among your favorites. Do you ignore all of his tonal compositions and listen to the atonal period only? His reaction to music in general seemed opposite to yours, he grew tired of atonal music completely and switched to tonal music. The same thing happened with Arvo Part, and also to a certain extent Ligeti.


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Yes , I like his music , end of discussion for me ;-)


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

ArtMusic said:


> Here's a description of *Tintinnabuli* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli
> 
> Pärt is a living composer born in 1935, in Estonia. He writes a lot of vocal religious music.


While I can't answer your poll question, I once took my children to a movie theater full of enthusiastic kids between the ages of 5 and 15 to see an animated Pixar movie, and the music included Spiegel im Spiegel.

I too enjoy much of Part's music, but what this incident showed is that he has won over our children. Any composer who can do that has won. Parents and teachers can require children to listen to music. Movie studios can't. He should be on my 'list'.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

I find his music to be pleasant, but not much else. I'll certainly reach for Bach before Pärt.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> I can imagine you might not be exactly happy with that situation. I would be, too. How did you cope with that? By resorting to atonal music?


Well...

I didn't have to "resort" to atonal music. I was previously listening to quite a bit of atonal music, but I just found myself, less and less, reaching for tonal music, and playing more and more atonal music.

But maybe I exaggerate a bit. Because I still listen to Bartok and Stravinsky and Barber (and a few others), from time to time. So, I may have overstated my case that I lost interest in all tonal music.

As pointed out by tdc in post #45, I do like some of Penderecki's later works.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Simon Moon said:


> Well...
> 
> I didn't have to "resort" to atonal music. I was previously listening to quite a bit of atonal music, but I just found myself, less and less, reaching for tonal music, and playing more and more atonal music.
> 
> ...


When you say "playing more and more atonal music", do you mean playing with an instrument/performers or do you mean playing (listening) recordings?


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