a cherished posession of mine is a personally autographed copy of german composer Arvo Part's CD, "Te Deum"...
i first heard his work when i was about 13 or so. it was the piece "Fratres" and it was on Kronos Quartet's "Winter Was Hard" album. i remember listening to it on repeat... watching the shifting golden rays of dusk move accross the hardwood floor of the room i was in. it sounded indescribably timeless, perfect. the steady progression of chords evoked images and symbols in my mind... a picture pattern of life unfolding into eternity. and to this day, i consider it to be perhaps the most profound pieces of music i've ever heard...
not realizing at the time that it was the same composer, i bought a copy of Part's "Te Deum" at tower records after randomly hearing it on a listening station. i was entranced by it and would listen to the CD over and over.
then, during the time i attended the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts, i ended up playing on violin Part's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten" with the chamber orchestra... haunted again by the timelessness of his music and how i could lose myself entirely in it. performing it was a beautiful and unforgettable experience...
that year (when i was 14) after i left the school, a german girl came and lived with me for 3 months. i'd met her in berlin a couple of years back on a tour with my violin teacher's studio. i came to find out Arvo Part's son was in her class at school!
so i got a CD as a gift with this in the liner notes:
a year and a half ago, my brother and i took a class called "history of experimental film/video". for a project, we decided to put together a soundtrack for an early film called "Ballet Mecanique" by surrealist artists Fernand Leger & Man Ray. we made a mix of a bell track off a Paul Miller (DJ Spooky) CD, an Autechre track, and... Part's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten". this project was significant to me for many reasons...
and then a violinist friend of mine was preparing for a solo concert in which he planned to play the version of "Fratres" written for violin. he asked me to put together a visual sequence of images to accompany the music... a film montage, essentially. this project is undone but is a future production i hold very precious and anticipate completing as soon as i have the means...
anyway, i'm just struck by the coincidence, interconnection, and importance this composer has for me. it's cool.
i'll conclude with a quote of his that i like... talking about the sound of bells:
"Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers - in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity.�