Arvo Pärt is a minimalist composer from Estonia who invented a composition style called Tintinnabuli. The style consists of two voices, or notes playing two separate melodies in time and in key with each other. The style is described by Wikipedia like so:
…tintinnabular music is characterized by two types of voice, the first of which (dubbed the “tintinnabular voice”) arpeggiates the tonic triad, and the second of which moves diatonically in stepwise motion.
And Pärt speaks of it like so:
Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers – in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certain feeling that everything outside this one thing has no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me, and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises – and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. . . . The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I call it tintinnabulation.
The simplicity and juxtaposition between the two parts almost produces a third invisible melody in the listener’s imagination.
This is one of his more famous pieces – Für Alina:
And here’s a short interview with Arvo Pärt by Bjork that pretty much sums it all up:
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