I'm no expert, I can't pretend to be. I was introduced to Arvo Pärt by my bandmate Betsy in the late '00s and since then I have explored only casually...but the results have been quite rewarding. Estonian by birth, Pärt was initially influenced by baroque composers, but was received poorly by authorities when he started to expand his horizons. Allowed to emigrate in the '80s to Austria, he began to delve deeper into the untraditional, and is considered a pioneer of holy minimalism....yeah, I don't know what that is either. Subtle and extremely intense music, and it's worth nting that this entire recording was conducted with Pärt in presence...just because that makes it heavier. Like I said: the results have been quite rewarding.
