and Dimitri Mitropoulos, virtually reinventing the role of the serious American
composer, freely moving between Broadway and the concert hall. With
Comden and Green and their friend Judy Holliday, he performed in night-
clubs as part of The Revuers. The night before his impromptu New York
Philharmonic debut, mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, at her Town Hall debut
recital, gave the first performance in New York of Bernstein’s “I Hate Music.”Bernstein seemed comfortable writing in any form he chose. His composition
included three symphonies, including a tribute to his Jewish heritage,
Symphony No. 1:Jeremiah, to the musicals On the Town, Wonderful Town, and
West Side Story. He also composed the operetta Candide; the operas Trouble
in Tahiti andA Quiet Place; Chichester Psalmsfor chorus and orchestra; the
ballets Fancy Freeand The Dybbuk Variations; Mass, for “singers, dancers,
and players”; and the song cycle Arias and Barcarolles(1989).Arvo Pärt, 1935–present..............................................................................
Arvo Pärt is one of those composers lumped under the term minimalism that
doesn’t really belong there. There has to be a better way to describe his music,
however, because instead of simply condensing a piece of music to its bare
tonal center, Pärt is just somehow able to find the very best couple of notes
for his compositions. His composition process is legendary, with reports of
him sitting at the piano for hours and hours on end, hitting the same key
over and over, trying to find the perfect way to sound that one note.Far from resulting in tedious, mechanical-sounding music, Pärt’s music is so
pure and perfect that many have dubbed his work sacred minimalism. Pärt,
who received his musical training almost equally within the Catholic Church
and in music school, draws heavily on the tradition of Gregorian chant in his
vocal works, applying the same principal of using only the absolute best
notes for both the instruments and the voices used in his compositions.Throughout Pärt’s career, he has demonstrated a voracious musical curiosity
and daring experimental spirit that has allowed him to become not only
Estonia’s premiere composer, but one of the best-known choral and sacred
music composers of the 21st century. Thirty years of musical experimenta-
tion with influences as wide ranging as Russian neoclassicism, Western mod-
ernism, Schoenbergian dodecaphony, minimalism, polytonality, Gregorian
chant, and collage have led him to a style of music he calls “tintinnabulation,”
also called “sacred minimalism” by colleague Steve Reich. This method,
which takes its name from the Latin word for bells, places unusual emphasis
on individual notes and makes extensive use of silence.262 Part V: The Part of Tens