Customer Reviews

Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel

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I first heard this CD on ABC Radio when driving to work from the Blue Mountains to Sydney - a weekly 1000 km. Of course once I'd heard it I had to have it! Others have written about the musicological features of this composer's work so there's really nothing I can add to their more informed opinions. It is simply ethereal music from another dimension and after hearing the high-quality BIS production, I'm gradually acquiring more of Part's music and look forward to spending more time learning about the composer as well as enjoying the music, which is, sui generis.

These are tranquil tones - excellent background for meditation or foreground for focused listening. This music has brought tears, it is that beautiful. But it's very minimal, too. A friend of mine (a second-hand listener from across the room) was plagued by the measured "pling-pling" notes - all she could really hear from a distance. It's lovely - but take it in sips, not gulps.

If you collect Arvo Part CDs like me, you've figured out that they're not unique. That is, certain pieces appear on more than one CD and in different company. This is true of SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL.

The CD's first and fifteenth tracks are renditions of the lovely "Fratres." The first version is for violin and piano, and Vadim Gluzman and Angela Yoffe respectively pick up the tempo a bit. Compare to the more measured performance of the Talinn String Quartet. Equally satisfying.

Also memorable is the final cut, "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten." This is one of Part's more famous works and deservedly so. The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is up to the task.

The title piece, "Spiegel im Spiegel," is a slow, meditative piece reminiscent of the East. I love to write by it, but you may meditate, read, space out, or sit in a dark room and sip wine by it. You get the idea.

My only disappointment is with the inclusion of the 1964 "Quintettino, Op. 13." It's one of those experimental pieces that sound like an orchestra warming up -- not up to Part's later stuff which is some of the finest being written in the modern age.

Overall, SPIEGEL IM SPIEGEL deserves a space on your CD shelf.

The ping reminds me of the walking meditation of Thich Nhat Hahn. One walks slowly, but the mind wanders until the bell rings, and in that moment you are brought back to - now. So it is with this piece as the piano and the cello reflect each other in mood and tempo. The mind wanders, then ping - back to this moment.