The Silence And Awe Of Arvo Pärt (0)

The Silence And Awe Of Arvo Pärt
Some time ago, when I was randomly browsing the internet , I found an article about Arvo Pärt attending a festival in New York . The article seemed interesting but I didn’t exactly read it, because Arvo Pärt has always been a composer I respect and know of, but I haven ’t directly listened to his music or been to any of his concerts so it didn’t strike my interest , but on the bottom of the same page was a review where a journalist described his music very vividly and colorfully. It was also very inspiring and so I started to search for more.
The silence and awe of Arvo Pärt is an article written by Tom Huizenga. There he talks about Pärt’s childhood and how he found his current style. The most important was what inspires him and they also had an interview :
In the article he says that Pärt is a major composer and he was little nervous to meet him. Although the 78- year -old musician usually shies away from acclaim and the media, Huizenga had the opportunity to talk to the man. The journalist had also brought along a small bell and set it down on the table between them . When he gave it a little tinkle Pärt had said "Oh, this is a good beginning , thank you," in his heavily accented English .
Pärt likes bells , literally and figuratively in his music. He also likes space and silence. Fans tend to use words like "timeless" to describe his contemplative music. But for Pärt, time has deep meaning . In conversation , as in his music, he takes his time to unclutter his thoughts. They come out like poems.
"Time for us, is like the time of our own lives , it is temporary. What is timeless is the time of eternal life. That is eternal. These are all high words, and so, like the sun, we cannot really look at them directly, but my intuition tells me that the human soul is connected to both of them — time and eternity ." This is only one of his inspiring thoughts.
"On the one hand , silence is like fertile soil , which, as it were, awaits our creative act, our seed ," Pärt said. "On the other hand, silence must be approached with a feeling of awe. And when we speak about silence, we must keep in mind that it has two different wings, so to speak. Silence can be both that which is outside of us and that which is inside a person . The silence of our soul, which isn't even affected by external distractions, is actually more crucial but more difficult to achieve."
"A lot of people have this impression that he's a bit of a recluse, sort of monk -like. Yes, when you see him. But as soon as you speak to him and get to know him, I tell you, he has the most wonderful sense of humor and a most engaging personality," once said countertenor David James of the Hilliard Ensemble, a group that began championing Pärt's music in the 1980s.
When Huizenga asked Pärt how he liked being thought of as a mystic. He just laughed.
"Ah," he said "that is the last thing I want to be."
In April 2015 New York Live Arts will present Arvo Pärt: Journeys in Silence - A Selection of Chamber Works . It is a day-long immersion— through music, lectures and film —into the stillness and depth of Pärt’s powerful music and work , curated by Peter Bouteneff of the Arvo Pärt Project at St. Vladimir’s Seminary. The New York Times recently said that “No other living composer has so fervent a following or such a diverse group of fans. This year’s New York Live Arts festival’s theme is S K Y - Force and Wisdom in America Today and the ” Live Ideas ’ second day is devoted to Arvo Pärt.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/06/02/316322238/the-silence-and-awe-of-arvo-p-rt
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmovies/article/New-York-Live-Arts-Sets-Lineup-for-Spring-2015-LIVE-IDEAS-Festival-20150126