Celebrated as one of the greatest contemporary composers, Arvo Pärt (b. 1935,
Estonia) had a difficult start to his career under Communist rule. Winner of the
USSR Young Composers' Competition in 1963, the neoclassically-influenced
musician went through various phases (dodecaphony, serialism, collages),
creating controversy with his religiously-inspired Credo and Symphony No. 3.
Despite censorship, he continued his research and developed a style he called
"tintinnabuli". This aesthetic, inspired by the sound of bells, is based on a
simple, slow melody with notes in perfect chords...