Reading this book expands music awareness and understanding of Eastern Orthodoxy (Greek, Russian). I almost wish I had copies of each composition so I could have listened to it as I read the author's description. The same statement could be made about understanding the many references to Eastern Orthodoxy. However, I am glad I persevered. I am going to YouTube to find presentations of his compositions. Should be enlightening.

excerpt from REVIEW by Alan Tender for Amazon:
"Author Peter C. Bouteneff teaches at the St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers, New York where he is also one of the driving forces behind the Arvo Pärt Project (www.arvopartproject.com) which is “a collaboration born out of the deep connection between the composer and the spiritual tradition that grounds his music.” The full review is well-worth reading. ( )

The cover art nails it: A Pure Bright Sadness born out of the Darkness

If you are a fan of the music of Arvo Pärt and perhaps of Estonian composers and their music in general you’ll likely be at least somewhat curious about this book which is the first study that provides some background understanding as to how Pärt’s Eastern Orthodox faith has provided both inspiration and source material for his compositions. Author Peter C. Bouteneff teaches at the St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Yonkers, New York where he is also one of the driving forces behind the Arvo Pärt Project (www.arvopartproject.com) which is “a collaboration born out of the deep connection between the composer and the spiritual tradition that grounds his music.”

Paul Hillier’s "Arvo Pärt", from 1997, is still the best overall biographical and early career overview, although it of course is missing information on the last 20 or so years of compositions. That, and "The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt" and at least one of the 6 different language editions of Enzo Restagno’s “Arvo Pärt allo specchio: conversazioni, saggi e testimonianze" (each translation’s edition has slightly different expanded content, although the Restagno interview with Nora and Arvo Pärt is common to all of them) are probably the best starter books for those who want a basic introduction to Arvo Pärt and his music.

"Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence" goes beyond those others though in providing a view into the Orthodox faith that has underpinned Pärt’s life since the early 1970’s and which writings have provided the text-source material for a great amount of his work, particularly in the years since the Paul Hillier study. This basis is often not even apparent esp. in the case of instrumental works which have a foundation text behind them that is never sung or spoken. The compositions "Silouan’s Song", “Lamentate", "Für Lennart in Memoriam" and "Symphony No. 4" are some of the major examples of this. An excellent and perfect companion volume to this present study is therefore the also recently published “In Principio: The Word in Arvo Pärt's Music”.

This present book’s material is presented in a very approachable manner which doesn’t necessarily require that the reader be previously well-read in the area. You could read it having no previous knowledge of Arvo Pärt or of Orthodox Christianity, although you would likely have do some dictionary or internet searches to bone up in a few cases (e.g. as my own background is Estonian-language Lutheran, I had no idea what RSV and NRSV* meant when I saw them here & Greek-based terms such as “hesychia" looked like Greek to me ;) Bouteneff’s previous and ongoing work as both a music scholar and as a theology teacher give him the prefect grounding to introducing both Arvo Pärt and Eastern Orthodox Christianity to us. The structure of the book is such that after an introduction to Pärt and his work there are excursions into the topics of “Silence" (i.e. this is the "hesychia" or "stillness/silence" which is a tradition of Eastern Orthodox prayer) and "Bright Sadness”, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, and then a concluding section to tie them into Pärt’s compositions.

Inserts and Appendices include 8 pages of colour photographs, a chronological list of Pärt’s compositions, suggested readings in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, a complete English language translation of St. Silouan's “Adam’s Lament” (Pärt’s composition only scores about 1/5th of it), both the conferral and Arvo Pärt’s acceptance speech for his 2014 Honorary Doctorate at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and a complete bibliography.

Whether intentionally painted so or not, the cover art of Satsuki Shibuya’s “Rebirth” (www.satsukishibuya.com) acts as a wonderful physical and spiritual symbolic portrait of Arvo Pärt (slightly balding and bearded and/or a pure white egg being born out of darkness) which perfectly captures the spirit of this book as well. To sum up, this book is highly recommended for those interested in the music of Arvo Pärt.

*RSV is the Revised Standard Version and NRSV is the New Revised Standard Version of English language translations of the Holy Bible. ( )