A recent NYTimes article about Arvo Part led me to a compilation album done as a chronological overview of his work. I started listening to it while putting little dark squares up on the wall. It surprised me in that I was expecting very modern, spare stuff. Instead, there were beautiful and lush melodies and sounds.
There was only one piece that I went past – a little too dissonant for the moment. Finally today I arrived at the last piece of the recording: “Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten.
I will be listening to this piece a lot more in the future. My reaction isn’t ready for words yet but it seriously grabs me somewhere.
Part has said of “tintinnabulation: “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. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me.”
