Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language

To create this book, illustrator Sildre (Messages from Ukraine) conducted research for roughly 10 years and collaborated with Arvo Pärt, the Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Now 88, Pärt is the world’s second most performed living composer. With minimal text and occasional wordless panels, this book covers his life from 1935 to 1980, in a palette of black, white, an earthy mushroom shade, and a cement hue. Giving mathematical equations a musical form, Pärt invented tintinnabuli, which unites the melody and a three-note chord into one ensemble, including vocal compositions. Music’s shown in two ways: filled-in black circles that progress in size on scales or zigzags—flowy like music—or as lines that curve up or down like cursive. A person of faith, he believes each sound is to be treated like a human soul. But religion was considered against the Soviet regime. In 1980, he and his family were forced to immigrate to Vienna. When Estonia regained its independence in 1991, his work was celebrated. “The Cast” section at the end, with images of every person mentioned, is mindful of a playbill.