Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0028944995824 Label: ECM New Series Manufacturer: ECM New Series Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: ECM New Series Release Date: October 25, 1999 Running Time: 51 minutes Studio: ECM New Series Sales Rank: 1840
449958
Amazon.co.uk Review: This is a remarkable release, both for its beauty and its novelty at programming. Für Alina is a two-minute solo piano piece composed by Pärt in l976 that ushered in his "tintinnabuli" style, that is, the bell-like, simple, no-notes-wasted method for which he has become beloved and famous. On this CD, pianist Alexander Malter plays it twice, as the second and fourth tracks; each iteration takes almost 11 minutes (Pärt assumed it would be embellished, and he chose this pair for the CD). There are minute variations in tempo, emphasis, and rubato from one to the other, but, all that being said, it amounts to 22 minutes of the most beautiful, contemplative music ever performed. Almost equally gentle is Spiegel im Spiegel , played as tracks 1, 3 and 5 and scored for piano and, respectively, violin, cello, and then violin again. The notes the instruments mirror one another (Spiegel is German for mirror), with notes added to the scale with each repetition, and so on. Almost impossible to describe in its loveliness, each of the three sets is beautiful; the cello in track 3 gives it extra mellowness. This is music staggering in its simple complexity and a treat for the ear and heart. --Robert Levine
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - I'll make an exception for this one
I don't usually add yet another five star rating to a bunch of already existing five star ratings because what's the point? I'll make an exception for this CD because it moved me like little music has in my life. Still, the question remains: What to add to the other euphoric reviews? I'd like to add a warning and a comparison.
You have to know what you get. There are only two pieces on this disc, "Spiegel im Spiegel" (mirror in the mirror) (A) and "Für Alina" (for Alina) (B). They ... Read More
Rating: - The prism of the spirit
Arvo Pärt is one of those rare contemporary composers whose works are immediately accessible and (probably for the same reason) whose output manages to attract the kind of audience that would otherwise give contemporary 'serious' music a wide berth.
Both pieces on this CD, Spiegel im Spiegel and Für Alina, exert a hypnotic pull on the listener. As far as the traditional musical ingredients are concerned (harmony, melody etc.), there isn't an awful lot going on. But what does happen ... Read More
Rating: - Simply perfect
If someone was to ask me to go through my music collection and pick out the perfect piece of music, Alina would be it. Neither offensive nor boring or shallow, it's uncomplicated with thought provoking phrasing, holding one's attention time after time without growing tiring. Yes, the tracks are slightly repetitive and the CD only has 2 tracks (albeit varied), but believe me you could stick your player on repeat and have this running for a couple of hours without wanting to change it.
Rating: - Not music but Music
Did you ever hear a few notes softly dropped into a beautiful dream? But all you were left with on waking was a fading echo and simultaneous feelings of uplift and of strange sadness? Arvo Part has captured that haunting purity and that feeling in these tracks.
I find some of Part's music abrasive, and tend towards the more contemplative tracks. Well, this CD is almost too contemplative to bear. There is a poem that goes: "Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past" ... Read More
Rating: - Beyond the soul
Pärt´s music penetrates to the world of aesthetic and spiritual beauty. The apparent simplicity of the composition allows the mind and the soul to hear and experience the music as such. Our two teenage boys took to it like fish to water, grew mindfully silent first time they heard it and played it the next morning for waking up and getting a good start of the day music. Pärt´s work is indeed a prism that separates the white light of a composition and allows you to see and hear the colours of the music.
