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Part, Arvo

PART, ARVO (b 1935 )

Arvo Pärt was born in Paide (in central Estonia) on 11 September 1935. An only child, his parents divorced when he was three, and he was brought up by his mother (a kindergarten teacher) and stepfather. With piano lessons from the age of eight (after the family had moved to a house in Rakvere in the north east of Estonia containing a concert grand), he received his rudimentary musical education at the Rakvere Children's Music School between 1946-1953. Finding that the repertoire of piano pieces he was given to play did not tax him fully enough he soon began writing his own short pieces, mainly for piano, although he also composed songs.

Studies continued in 1954 at Rakvere Secondary School and Tallinn Music School, where he studied composition and music theory. Whilst at Secondary School in Rakvere he was able to hear classical orchestral music from recordings transmitted over the public loudspeaker system in the town square, extending his somewhat limited musical horizons by cycling round and round the square on these occasions. His composition teachers at the Tallinn Music School were Harri Otsa (b.1926) and Veljo Tormis (b.1930), study that was interrupted by two years of compulsory military service during which he worked as a snare drummer in an army band. It was not until autumn 1957 that he was finally able to enrol as a postgraduate student at the Tallinn Conservatory.His composition teacher there was Heino Eller (1887-1970), who had himself studied composition at the St Petersburg Conservatory under Glazunov (whom Pärt acknowledges as his musical grandfather) and who played a central role in the development of Estonian music both as composer and teacher.

Pärt's first works, two piano Sonatinas and a Partita, were neoclassical student pieces. Then in 1960 he became the first Estonian composer to espouse serialism (Nekrolog) and, using other avant-garde techniques including pointillism and aleatoricism, explored its potential in a number of experimental works - Perpetuum Mobile (1963), Symphony No.1 (1964), Diagrams (1964), Musica Sillabica (1964), and Solfeggio (1964). In an attempt to extricate himself from what soon became a musical impasse, his next works adopted (and played with) baroque and classical forms and incorporated borrowed tonal gestures - the brief Quintettino (1964), Collage on B-A-C-H (1964) and the cello concerto Pro et Contra (1966). With the composition of Credo (1968), the quintessential work of the early period and the first to set a religious text, Pärt finally reached the impasse that had been threatening, created by the fact that his own compositional voice had effectively been eclipsed by that of Bach.

Orchestral Music

In 1976 Pärt wrote a moving tribute to Benjamin Britten, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, for string orchestra and bell. His Cello Concerto, Pro et Contra and three symphonies reflect the course his music has taken.

Chamber Music

A wind Quintetino of 1965 has been followed by the interesting work Fratres, for violin and piano, and Spiegel im Spiegel ('Mirror in the Mirror') for cello and piano.

Vocal and Choral Music

Pärt has made a particularly strong impression with works such as his Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secondum Johannem ('St John Passion'), his Stabat Mater, for three solo voices and string trio, his Miserere of 1989 and the Biblical Sarah was ninety-years old.

Instrumental Music

Music for smaller ensembles and solo instruments by Pärt includes his 1977 Fratres for violin and piano and Spiegel im Spiegel for cello and piano, together with his organ Pari intervalli.

Discography
Image	Title	Price	Release Date	Label
	MOZART: Sinfonia concertante / Serenata notturna / PART: Mozart-Adagio / SCHNITTKE: Moz-Art a la Haydn (Kremerata Baltica) (NTSC)	$24.99	Mar 25, 2008	EuroArts DVD
	PART: Music for Unaccompanied Choir	$8.99	Sep 26, 2006	Naxos Classics
	PART: 24 PRELUDES FOR A FUGUE (NTSC)	$24.99	Sep 20, 2005	Juxtapositions
	A Portrait: PART	$17.99	Jun 21, 2005	Naxos Educational
	MUSIC FROM ESTONIA - Tobias, Lemba, Eller, Riad, Tormis, Part	$18.99	Jun 1, 2005	Chandos
	PART: Berliner Messe / Magnificat / Summa	$8.99	Oct 19, 2004	Naxos Classics
	PART: Berliner Messe / Magnificat / Summa	$14.99	Oct 19, 2004	Naxos Dvd Audio
	PART: Berliner Messe / Magnificat / Summa	$14.99	Oct 19, 2004	Naxos Dvd Audio
	PART: Stabat mater / Fratres / Summa	$16.99	Mar 1, 2004	ATMA Classique
	PART: Passio	$8.99	Apr 1, 2003	Naxos Classics
	PART: Tabula Rasa / Symphony No. 3	$8.99	Jan 1, 2001	Naxos Classics
	SCHNITTKE: Concerto Grosso No. 1 / PART: Tabula Rasa / GORECKI: Harpsichord Concerto	$18.99	Nov 1, 1997	Chandos
	PART: Fratres / Festina Lente / Summa	$8.99	May 6, 1997	Naxos Classics
	PART: Collage uber B-A-C-H / Summa / Wenn Bach Bienen gezuchtet hatte / Fratres / Symphony No. 2	$18.99	Feb 1, 1993	Chandos

Composer also appears in: (10)
Image	Title	Price	Release Date	Label
	REJOICE - A Vision of Christ Through Music	$8.99	Mar 18, 2008	Naxos Special Projects
	The Sonic Rebellion Collection	$3.99	Sep 6, 2007	Naxos Special Projects
	DISCOVER CHORAL MUSIC	$9.99	Aug 28, 2007	Naxos Educational
	MONTREAL BAROQUE FESTIVAL 2005 - Fruits of Passion	$12.99	May 1, 2005	ATMA Classique
	STRAUSS, R.: Metamorphosen / ELLER: Elegia / BARBER: Adagio for Strings	$11.99	Mar 1, 2004	Chandos
	CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATER OF TAIWAN - BAMBOO DREAM (NTSC)	$29.99	Sep 1, 2003	Arthaus Dvd
	Classical Chill	$17.99	May 1, 2002	Naxos Classics
	MUSICA INTIMA: Invocation	$16.99	Jan 1, 2002	ATMA Classique
	MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS (THE)	$16.99	Oct 1, 1998	CBC Records
	ENCHANTED DAWN - Works for Flute and Marimba	$16.99	Jul 1, 1996	ATMA Classique

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