I was introduced to Arvo Pärt in high school. An English teacher who taught Latin in addition to English at Albany Academy for Girls, the sister school to Albany Academy. At the time, my playlist was a mix of hip-hop when I hung out around the way in Arbor Hill and new-wave, alternative rock like the Cure.

There was a fair amount of angsty shit, in a nutshell.

This song was the second song on the A-side of Tabula Rasa. It inspires a definition of mourning as "celebrating an end". This song was made for a British composer Benjamin Britten who passed away in 1976. The steady buildup and progression of the orchestra with the bell constantly ringing and resonating grabs me. It's hard for me to offer a detailed critique of the musical interplay; I'll leave that to those better qualified to handle it. Some people speak of Hemingway's writing, or a pop ballad played where a multi-culti Benneton crew knows all the words. It's simple, powerful and effective.

Side note; while playing this track, I found a version that had been slowed down 800%. This turns a single song into a 42 minute piece of work. The longest piece I've reivewed so far is E2-E4 at 58 minutes & 39 seconds. I'm listening to it right now to see how I feel about it. Of course, if you're from Houston, you might just call this Screwed without the chopped.