Wednesday, March 2, 2016

“Spiegel Im Spiegel” (the music)


Today, Arvo Pärt with a bit of commentary. Pärt composed “Spiegel Im Spiegel” (“The Mirror in the Mirror” or “Mirrors in Mirrors”) in 1978. In the composition, he makes use of what he calls Tintinnabuli, a technique he first used in the 1976 piano piece, “Für Alina”. According to Wikipedia:

Musically, Pärt's tintinnabular music is characterized by two types of voice, the first of which (dubbed the "tintinnabular voice") arpeggiates the tonic triad, and the second of which moves diatonically in stepwise motion. The works often have a slow and meditative tempo, and a minimalist approach to both notation and performance.

“Spiegel Im Spiegel” was originally scored for violin & piano, but versions employing the viola or the cello, as in today’s video, are also common. In addition, there are versions for cello & harp, French horn & piano, (as well as using various other horns & woodwinds); & even for guitar & cello; & this doesn’t exhaust the list of combinations.

The title suggests the “infinity mirror”, in which a mirror contained within a mirror gives the impression of an infinite view.

This video features the playing of cellist Leonhard Roczek & pianist Herbert Schuch, recorded during the Salzburg Mozart Week in 2014. It’s a sublime performance of truly sublime music.




Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

Alsace, Bas-Rhin, Marmoutier, Église abbatiale Saint-Etienne, Sol carrelé en marbre du chœur (Marmoutier Abbey: Marble tiled floor in the choir) : Ralph Hammann - 2014

Ralph Hammann make the file available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.


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