Björk and Arvo Pärt Chat it Up
May 7, 2009
Two of my very favorite artists converse in this very cool, very strange interview (begins around 2:15):
From Eric Whitacre’s blog: Arvo Part interviewed by Bjork
Published: 28 May 2009 9:58 PM UTCPosted in: nit-picked from the WWW
About the Author
BU student majoring in Music (non-performance) and double minoring in french and journalism 
User
Cool! Arvo Pärt is from the same country I live in, a fantastic artist, indeed
Wow, Brindle, are you from Estonia?!?
Eric
Yes (:
I really liked his metaphor of ’sound being able to kill and also being able to do the exact opposite..’ and the idea of that freedom between these two extremes as well. Without that freedom, composers wouldn’t be able to make the audience immerse in the music they have created. Pärt’s works illustrate this idea very well. He’s definitely an inspirational man in the way he talks about music.. and obviously a magnificent composer.
And although I’m specialising in classical singing, I’m also very much into composition 
A funny fact is that I’m currently studying in the same music school he started at
Pärt and you (Eric) are both reasons why I want to be a composer. Watching the documentary on Pärt in my Theory class has just opened my mind in so many ways. Performing your (Eric) pieces has also moved me to want to create something beautiful as well. According to Pärt, we should love every sound, which he learned from a man on the street. Eric has shown that he loves every sound in all of his pieces and Pärt definitely has shown that. You two are my biggest inspirations in wanting to be a composer. Thank you so much for your beautiful pieces and I hope they keep coming.
Oh dear lord. This is possibly one of my favorite interviews of all time.
Been a Bjork fan since I was a baby, and a Part fan for the better part (ahaha) of two years, and he’s been very influential on my love for choral music.
I think one of the most interesting things about this interview is from a linguistic standpoint, as they both have a less than perfect grasp on English. And so their adjectives tend to resound in a rather poetic fashion. Lovely lovely.
“Alive with closed eyes.”
Oh and mind my complete lack of umlauts.
What a wonderful and interesting combination. I loved it.
I am a teacher, and I love what he says because it makes so much sense to those of us who “get it.” That music is much like the divine being gifted with both destructive and creative powers. You can use sound to subject, humiliate, control, and on the complete flip side of that is the freedom that truly good music gives: catharsis, power, and superlative joy. I keep trying to bring it home to my students especially when we do spirituals, “This is all they had, music was like freedom coming to rest in the hearts of the slaves!!!” And still they don’t understand. It disappoints me that like so many other important truths of life this is not in my power to teach… They have to live it first- that freedom of the spirit that only oneness with the music can impart to them.
I keep watching for the moment it descends on their minds, and the funniest times are when you see it happen to some- but not all- and the students that felt that movement and life in their souls seem suddenly transformed, and the rest of them are sitting there looking around like “Ummm… is something supposed to be impressive here?” I hurt for them, but I believe it comes to us all in time if we seek it.
What a wonderful interview. Thank you for sharing!
Rebecca