Right before Celia was born I began looking for discs that we could play for her that would let her know it was bedtime. I figured if we had a few discs that we could play for her every night she would take become accustomed to hearing certain pieces of music and associating them with sleep. The first disc that wound up in her CD player was Arvo Pärt’s ‘Alina’ with three versions of ‘Spiegel Im Spiegel’ and two versions of extended performances of ‘Fur Alina’. I think that disc was in Celia’s CD player for almost 4 years. When Mira was born, a copy was put into HER bedroom CD player (where it still sits). Celia has moved on to Dowland or Bach for her bedtime listening, but every night for about 5 years now, I have heard Arvo Pärt’s ‘Alina’ either during story time or over sound monitors. On one hand, once you know the music it can disappear into the background easy enough. On the other, the music is simply beautiful and I can lay there, holding my girls for a few minutes before they go to sleep and listen to the music.

At one point I mentally dictated ‘Spiegel In Spiegel’ in my head. When I first heard it I just thought of the piece as a simplified ‘Moonlight Sonata’. For the most part it really hasn’t stood up that well for me. It doesn’t bother me, but I don’t find it to be an amazing piece. It is great for the girls to fall asleep to though… simple, calming and pretty. ‘Fur Alina’ on the other hand (and specifically the recordings on this disc – extended improvisations on a two minutes piece that stretch on for about 10-11 minutes each) is a stunningly beautiful work. I actually think this performance is a masterpiece. It sounds so simple, and the piece itself analyzes quite easily. After B octaves in the low end of the piano, the upper voice moves in a stepwise B minor melody against a broken B minor triad in the right hand, all in the upper part of the piano. It seems ‘Ode To Joy’ simple, but I imagine it took an immense amount of revision to arrive at. This piece marked Pärt’s change of style in the ’70s, and it was a drastic one. From a serial complexity to a simplicity that, from a composers point of view, is extremely difficult to achieve.

If I finish reading to one of the girls and ‘Fur Alina’ is on, I lay and listen to it through. The piece makes the piano vibrate a shimmery B minor, and the music is a beautiful mixture of dissonant 9ths and resonant minor chords. The music almost always reminds me of my first trip to Copenhagen. It was my first trip to Europe and on my first morning there (a Sunday morning) I walked out of the hotel to explore a little. I wound up standing in a large snow covered courtyard surrounded by old buildings and cold, quiet air:

I didn’t see another person for probably an hour when I got back to the hotel with some very cold feet and fingers. It was an amazingly peaceful feeling mixed with drowsiness from jetlag. And I get this feeling of cold expanse mixed with calm when I hear this music. Then, I wrap my arms around my little girls to make sure they are warm and comfortable for a good night’s sleep.