Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa (“Clean Slate”), a concerto for two violins, prepared piano and chamber orchestra, is a mesmerising contemplation of silence and its relation to triads and scales. A product of Arvo Pärt’s tintinnabuli style, this two-movement piece from 1977 marked a turning point in the Estonian composer’s career and reached a worldwide audience, following Pärt’s change from avant-garde dissonance to the introspective, minimalist calm that has come to define him. "Ludus" (“Game”), the first movement, consists of eight variations alternating with silence, and a cadenza. The solo violins are offset initially by gentle string chords that build in intensity as the piece progresses. Silentium (“Silence”), the slow, contrasting second movement, is divided into three instrumental groups: the solo violins, violin I and violin II, and viola and cello. It breathes a solemn air of resignation, with diaphanous textures that demand careful attention from performers and listeners to realise the ethereal atmosphere being conjured. Tabula Rasa was composed to accompany a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso, of similar instrumentation; it premiered in 1977 in Tallinn, Estonia, with Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko on violin and Schnittke on prepared piano. The musicians of the chamber orchestra were initially confounded by Pärt’s minimalist approach, in which the bare building blocks of music come to the fore. Listeners might feel similarly. But with patience and reflection, different layers will come to light and your recollections of the piece will change—it will stay with you long after, as our fondest memories often do.