Arvo Pärt
Estonia's most famous composer (are there any others?) has come in and out of my musical life for the past fifteen years, yet still today, he sadly occupies but a miniscule part of my collection. I remember an old colleague of mine back in the days when I was working in a music store in downtown Montreal suggesting some of his works to me after having expressed my love of Rachel's. Although the two don't really have anything in common, I do understand why this person would suggest Pärt to me. As usual, my reticent nature prevented me from actually listening to any of his compositions at first. It would take a few years, when I was working in music store in downtown Stockholm, that I would finally give it a try while working in the classical section. I put Alina on and immediately, I was swept away. Such fragile music, so bare yet so expressive. It struck a chord in me. The store might have been busy, but I was hypnotized, sitting there at the counter, staring blindly in front of me (this happens to me a lot). You'd think I'd go nuts and buy everything from the composer after having fallen in love with one of his compositions, but surprisingly, the only album I have ever bought has been Alina. Don't ask me why. To this day I don't understand why I stopped there. I gave a few other albums a listen, but they all seemed so stern and had none of the delicateness of Alina... so I stopped looking. What a shame.
Truth is, I do not know much about the composer except for the few short reviews I've read over the net. Most of his works have their roots in religious writings and he is often compared to Henryk Górecky. I'm not sure when more albums by Pärt will surface on the site as I am only familiar with Alina, but with time (and budget permitting), more will be on the way.
AlinaLabel: ECM Records Release: 1999 Format: CD Cat. no: ECM 1591 |
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