Article response -- Arvo Pärt's "Cantus"

Good piece, Ned.

I've often felt that "Cantus" represents some kind of acceptable face of Holy Minimalism (perhaps because it feels a bit more, I dunno, secular?), whereas Gorecki's Third has always struck me as some kind of Spielbergian manipulative nastiness. Of course, one has difficulty escaping deep, primary associations with pieces of music like this - I first heard Gorecki's piece accompanying some Holocaust footage on TV, I first heard Part's piece on headphones on a train speeding through the East Midlands countryside (= neutral, fast-changing visual environment?).

More recently I've heard "Cantus" used almost subliminally soundtracking scenes of comical desperation in Armando Iannuci's show. Thankfully, I've never seen "Platoon", so Barber's "Adagio" *isn't* solidly to linked to Viet carnage (incidentally, the usual jingoistic Last Night of the Proms programme has been altered to include this [this coming Saturday], Beethoven's Eroica and Jerusalem).

Restraint, yes. He seems to be a very restrained man (Pam and I were lucky enough to see the fellow at a performance of one of his pieces - not "Cantus" - at the QEH 2 years ago), one couldn't imagine him writing a piece of any great violence (I have some of his mid-60s serialist and collage works, and even they're quite approachable).

I'm not sure how he's viewed by his contemporaries in modern composition. There are few who have anything nice to say about Gorecki and Tavener, but maybe Arvo escapes this (perhaps he's just complex enough?). How much has his recent writing been affected by the unprecedented popularity of his 70s/80s work?

Fortunately, as fortunate as things like this can be, I have never heard the "Cantus" outside its own context, or rather that of listening to _Tabula Rasa_. So it's interesting to hear that it's been used elsewhere -- I honestly wouldn't have expected it to be so employable, frankly.

My favorite piece of Part-verk is "Für Alina" which was written in 1976, and ushers in his "mature" style. It's also the record ("Alina") which seems to cause the most consternation amongst fans/follows. I don't know if you've heard this or not Ned, but the SAW II comparisons were never more accurate than here. Ver' beautiful.

(Also, great piece, but my critical faculties have been stomped all over by work and the events of this week, so no in depth analysis. [Not that it really needs it anyway...sort of like analyizng a large chunk of Ned's side which had been removed.] It articulated several points I haven't been able to this week.)

"Cantus" is a miraculous piece of music. The echnical analysis is helpful but doesn't fully explain the full-barrell impact of the piece. I've been an avid fan of Pärt for years, ever since doing his "De Profundis" (male chorus and organ) in college. Another effective piece by him is the "Magnificat", another haunting masterpiece whose juxtaposition of haunting tones and uplifting message resonate more strongly than ever.

It should also be said that Tavener is a great counterpoint to Pärt. The school of modern drone composers are amazing, much more emotionally involved than the post-tonal school.

On the subject of Barber, Adagio for Strings just got used as a background for a montage of images of the events of 11/09 on Newsnight. I suspect this won't be the last time either.

Those of who interested in Pärt should see the recent Mexican film Japón, which features quite a bit of Pärt--and the climactic (beyond extraordinary) last shot is accompanied by the "Cantus for Benjamin Britten."