Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa

[babaknassirpour]

I have been listening to this piece since Architecture school back in the 80's. It has never failed to inspire, invigorate, and provoke my feelings and creativity. This music is, for lack of better word, spiritual, and yet very romantic. I met Arvo Part in person several years ago and could see in his eyes, the divine genius it takes to compose music like this. Cheers.

[stevennewton]

The first time I ever heard this was on the car radio, I had to stop the car to listen to it.

[EduNauta]

"In the first tintinnabuli pieces, Pärt was not thinking about performances, and (as with medieval music) his notation was sparse. He stepped out publicly in 1977 with “Tabula Rasa.” His friend, the conductor Eri Klas, was looking for a work to accompany a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s First Concerto Grosso, which was written for two violins, harpsichord, prepared piano and string orchestra. He asked Pärt if he could deliver a piece in three months with the same orchestration. The composer complied (eliminating the harpsichord). When the new piece arrived, the orchestra players and the violin soloists, Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko, were bewildered. “We were all a bit surprised by the empty picture of the score, ” Kremer told me. “It was all tonal and so transparent. There were so few notes.”

The night of the concert, the auditorium in Tallinn was full. Having had only two days of rehearsal, the musicians were filled with apprehension. “They came to the concert expecting a catastrophe, even Gidon Kremer and Tatjana Grindenko, who put all their talent on every note, especially the second part, the slow part, ” Pärt said. “And it was a magnet for the orchestra, and they took over this articulation. And it was wonderful. It was so still that the people could not breathe or cough, it would disrupt. It was with me the same feeling. My heartbeat was so noisy that I thought everyone could hear.” The composer Tuur, who was still a teenager, was in the audience that night. “I was carried beyond, ” he told me. “I had the feeling that eternity was touching me through this music.” In the score, Pärt wrote an exceptionally long four measures of rest at the end of the piece, but the silence went on even longer. “Nobody wanted to start clapping, ” Tuur said."

[helencathleen]

I was driving home, the same old route, listening to this and suddenly, everything seemed different, more alive. The sunlight slanting though the trees, the houses, the stop sign.

[carolemistry]

This is the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. Thank you Arvo.

[arabella]

This music made me cry. Heavenly music came through a purified human soul----the beautiful soul of Arvo Part.

[bowtangey]

I bought a very discounted cd of this 25 years ago, never having heard of the composer. It is now one of my all time favorites. Three years ago I had it in the car, and my then freshman high school child put it in the car player out of curiosity. She is now hooked as well. So exquisitely beautiful. It is the theme music for my beloved mortality.

[andrewpfeiffer]

This was one of the pieces that drew me back into music when I wanted to give up because no music seemed as good as silence. I learned here that there's internal noise in your head and the right kind of music can actually make it easier to find silence. The other piece is the middle of Shostakovich's second piano concerto.

[dharma_seeker]

I love Tabula Rasa no matter what state of mind I'm in. When I'm depressed, it elevates my soul and reminds me of the beauty of life. When joyous, I shed tears over the preciousness of our shared existence. For those psychonauts out there, listen to this when partaking and you'll feel as though you've merged with the divine.

[ShannonWood-bf]

I was introduced to this piece in the1980’s in San Francisco while managing a very large occult store near Haight Street. We catered to a diverse clientele, from spiritualists, Wiccans, root workers, hippies, punks, old black ladies from the church next door, Satanists from time to time even.
My day was long and filled with tales of intrigue and inspiration. I came home smelling of all the essential oils, herbs and incense we sold. Usually very fatigued.
When my cellist neighbour played this track for me one day after work at the shop I started crying.
Tears rolling down my cheeks.
So beautiful, this piece.
I slept very deeply after I went home and it’s been my absolute favourite Neo Classical music since. 💖

[HAL_NlNETHUSAND]

What a piece, oh my god. This is what makes life worth living.

[charlesrae]

The 2nd part of Tabula Rasa is incredible. The way it fades away into eternity, you have the impression that it is continuing on another, eternal, plane, far beyond our human ears.To think that in an age of such crass nonsense, we are blessed to be able to hear Arvo Part remind us that" there are more things in this earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio".

[griottembf]

toujours aussi magique, c vraiment le terme...Un autre monde, mais proche dans la douleur de la vie.
Très lancinant et sans espoir par moment.
D'âmes aux abois
Aux tréfonds de nos malheurs dans ses dissonances.
et puis le glas, presque serein
., ET puis les battements des jours enfuis.
tant d'images qui se lèvent sous nos pas

[ericallerat]

Each piece of Pärt is one of the most beautiful pieces ever composed, however I can't often listen to his works because every single of his pieces gets me into an incredibly sad and depressed mood. Especially this one.

[adrianthorburn]

The comments section is just great, I don't have anyone to talk to about this sort of music, it's so interesting to hear how people are moved by a piece of music.Many thanks to you all.

[johnhadfield]

Having an advertisement in the middle of this is sacrilegious.

[davepowell]

I'm retired and discover this! Arvo is accessible to all ❤

[neptunians]

Probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life. It's been 6 years I'v ever heard this and it still gets me every time.

[feanoriluvatar]

Found a small poem in my mind while listening to the second part (10:30). The German version came first :)



Silentium



Welchem Himmel blickst du nach,
wenn sich die Wolkendecke deiner Gedanken
vor die Sterne schiebt?

Wohin geht dein Blick,
wenn das fahle Licht des Mondes
einen Schatten fallen lässt auf dein Gesicht?

Was ist dein Ziel,
wenn du ihnen lauschst,
den Klängen der Unendlichkeit?

Es leuchtet nur ein kleines Licht,
zart, einsam
am dunklen Horizont,
der das Meer deiner Seele vom Himmel trennt.

Lass es wachsen, lass es größer werden als all das,
was deine Seele an Kummer in sich trägt!

Was bist du für ein Ort, an den sich all die Hoffnung hängt.
Verschwinde nicht hinter den Wolken, sieh:
sie folgen dir.



Where has the sky gone,
when the clouds of your thoughts
hide the view of the stars?

Where do you gaze,
when sallow rays of moonlight
cause a shadow in your face?

Where do you go,
if you listen to them,
to the sounds of eternity?

There's only one small light,
tender, lonely
at the dark horizon
telling apart the sea of your soul from heaven.

Let it grow, let it rise above everything
your soul bears of grief and sorrow!

What a kind of place you are, bearing all the hope in it.
Surrender not to the darkness, see:
They follow you.

[jean-christopheprickartz]

La musique de l'âme. Beauté absolue. Un aller simple pour le sublime. Comment avec (relativement) peu de moyens, toucher à l'essentiel.