Editorial Reviews

Arvo Pärt's "Für Alina" inspired a musical revolution -- namely the composer's own break in 1976 from serialism to the "tintinnabulist" style that made him an international figure. It's not revolution that one hears today, however, it's serenity. Pärt's own tempo marking -- "calm, exalted, listening to one's inner self" -- allow pianist Alexander Malter to improvise on the piece for several hours, from which the composer chose two ten-minute excerpts for this recording. Coming before, after, and in between those improvisations are three different interpretations -- two by violinist Vladimir Spivakov and pianist Sergej Bezrodny, and a third by Malter and cellist Dietmar Schwalke -- of Pärt's "Spiegel im Spiegel," a 1978 work that spins sustained string tones and broken piano chords into an ethereal world of its own. Rarely has so much been made from so little (Morton Feldman's PIANO AND STRING QUARTET comes to mind), and rarely do performers manage to weave such a powerful spell from reading between the lines. Ken Smith, Barnes & Noble

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