ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
For the first time a method
afterwards so characteristic to him becomes obvious: great upswings and culminations
are growing from a very small germ (one voice).
The work has been performed frequently in Western countries. The first
performance was in 1964 at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in
Venice. Italian critic Giacomo Manzoni remarked that Perpetuum was the first official
sound document that reached Western audiences.1 West German musicologist Fred K.
Prieberg stated that Perpetuum gave evidence of being an obvious bestseller in Western
concert halls.2
In the same year, 1963, Pärt’s First Symphony was completed and dedicated to
his teacher, Heino Eller.3 The work marked a deeper submerging into the spirit of the
time and a further move towards succinct and technical maturity. Polyphonic technique
is noticeable as he until the present work had not given much attention to it.
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