Arvo Pärt | Holy Minimalism | Silence. Exploring New Sources of Inspiration for Composers and Improvisers [Firtina Thesis

In today’s age of information overload, it is all too easy to become constantly overstimulated. As both a composer and an improviser, I have found a new source of inspiration by exploring minimalism—especially Holy Minimalism—using simple materials, embracing a slower creative process, and diving into the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The introspective elements, structure and usage of space and silence in this music guided me towards a journey that has helped me reconnect with music in a profound way. Drawing from the composers of the ECM Record Label's New Series who specifically connect a certain image and sound, this thesis examines selected works by Arvo Pärt, whose Tabula Rasa was the starting point for the New Series. This research is to unpack the ideas behind these compositions, explore the thought processes involved, and discuss the underlying philosophies with external concepts that I find highly inspiring, all in search of fresh perspectives. As more artists turn toward simplicity, I believe that looking at this music and the philosophies behind it through both an improvisers and a composers lens can open up exciting new pathways for inspiration.

Für Alina (1976)

for solo piano

I will be exploring the analysis of Pärt pieces in gradual density in his style. Not necessarily discovering everything in depth, I wanted to connect dots in his creative thinking, extracting information, a possible new language for myself and discovering details in his music. First piece will be Für Alina, for it has a special place in his catalogue of works. It is one of the most petit, yet one of the most significant works in all of Arvo Pärt’s oeuvre and a door for his tintinnabuli style.

Written in 1976, Für Alina, it has the first traces of his previously mentioned compositional technique that he developed himself, Tintinnabulli. Lasting approximately 2 minutes, the piece is formed of 2 seperate lines, in B minor tonality. After his hiatus for 8 years, he studied Medieval and Renaissance music in depth and the construction of musical ideas such as cantus firmus and organum is clearly structured in the piece. The M-voice, representing cantus firmus and T-voice representing organum. The melodic structure is very stepwise, with couple exceptions of jumps to create a more interesting melodic line while the accompanying line only plays the close position notes from the tonic triad, B minor. While the T-voice construction is very systematic, for this composition, the M-voice seems very intuitive. There is only one exception for the T-voice in bar 11, the T-voice plays a "wrong" C#. This little but very striking acoustic event is further accentuated by the breaking of the pedal point that has been held down throughout the piece, which is almost an awakening from a meditative state. For me, this is one of the many beautiful details in Pärt's music. There is always a little twist, to play with the expectations of the listener, always a little unexpected surprise. Another detail is that the T-voice is always inferior and close position in this piece, never alternating. And regarding form, this piece uses a great example of a mirror form. The voice of the melody grows by one note in each bar and, reaching its maximum (eight notes) begins to diminish again. This very seemingly strict rule is broken in the final bar to our surprise, when the melody, which is expected to be reduced to just a single note to the attentive ear, is suddenly followed by three further notes, as if a new song, a new journey might still begin from here. Playing with listeners expectations, this fine little detail slightly elevates the music again, ending with a restless but serene feeling.

It is remarkable that this natural union of strict rules and internal freedom where he follows his intuition and ears to guide the M-voice in this scenario but the T-voice is very concrete, manifests itself already in the first work written in this new style.

The usage of space, the contemplative and meditative elements in this piece made it very inspirational to me. It was truly a revelation of how such a simple structure could create this wonderful imagery and sound world. Using this as a main source of inspiration, I have composed several pieces that incorporates the elements that I have learned from my analysis of this piece. Another major keyword to characterise all the tintinnabuli music and its aesthetic is silence. In Für Alina, it is present not just as the silence framing the piece, but, paradoxically, silence has been written into the music as an acoustic space of sorts. As a hint for the pianist, the composer has noted that the piece be played "in calm, uplifted manner, listening to one's inner self". Even this direction is quite unique to him, describing how these simple notes are is meant to be played in a more poetic way with words.

Für Alina can be considered the key composition of Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabuli style and, symbolically, the starting point for all of his later work. Many listeners also seem to associate it with the beginning of new life because from the time the piece was first recorded (ECM, 1999), the composer has received numerous messages telling him that his Für Alina has been played at the birth of a child. Moreover, many of the girls that were born listening to the music have been named Alina. The “real” Alina of the piece was the daughter of close friends of Arvo and Nora Pärt, separated from her mother by the Iron Curtain — the daughter being left in England and the mother in the Soviet Union. (Arvo Pärt Centre 2025)

The entire composition fits into 2 pages, almost like a sketch. (Pärt 1976)

- The top line represents M-voice and bottom(red) line represents the T-voice, always inferior first position, in the tonic triadn B minor.

- The mirrored form can also be clearly seen here. With the last bar as an exception there is a clear mirror image if you take bar 7 as the middle position. Perfect symmetry.

The highlight of the piece is the one and only C# appearing in bar 10, creating a beatiful contrapuntal line.It also is further accentuated by the breaking of the pedal point that has been held down throughout the piece. Regarding tintinnabuli rules, this is technically "wrong" but to create a more flowing and beautiful line, I believe Arvo Pärt trusted his intuition for this result more than the rules. For the attentive ear, this could be the apex moment within the piece.

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