Introduction

The music of Arvo Pärt is challenging. It exhibits such simplicity on the surface that just beginning an analysis can be demanding. Consequently, in the music-theoretical literature, few scholars have attempted full-scale analyses. Nevertheless, Pärt and his music make regular appearances in both the scholarly and the popular presses. Both venues offer biographic profiles, reviews of recordings and performances, and reflections upon his cultural milieu or his representation in the media. This valuable commentary would only be strengthened by a complementary assortment of analyses that engage a number of existing theories and develop new methods.

What can explain the paucity of music-theoretical scholarship on Pärt's music? First, he is a living composer. Not only have his predecessors from bygone centuries had more time to become objects of interest, but also their temporal distance equates, for many, to the critical distance necessary for informed analysis to occur. The second problem facing Pärt's music is its inescapable label: ‘minimalist.’ As labels go, this one is not problematic, and its accepted definition applies reasonably to his music, but it is a deterrent to theorists and analysts who find minimalist music of little value, regardless of composer, regardless of technique. Finally, Pärt's enormous success and popularity, coupled with an austere and reclusive persona, arouses suspicion in some casual observers.