Arvo Pärt - Spiegel im Spiegel /

Arvo Pärt - Spiegel im Spiegel (Cello & Piano)
Spiegel im Spiegel (lit.Tooltip literal translation 'mirror(s) in the mirror') is a composition by Arvo Pärt written in 1978, just before his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style, wherein a melodic voice, operating over diatonic scales, and tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other. It is about ten minutes long.
The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin - though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for saxophone, double bass, clarinet, horn, flugelhorn, flute, oboe, bassoon, trombone, and percussion. The piece is an example of minimal music.
The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow F major scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (the mediant of F). The piano's left hand also plays notes, synchronised with the violin (or other instrument).
"Spiegel im Spiegel" in German can literally mean both "mirror in the mirror" as well as "mirrors in the mirror", referring to an infinity mirror, which produces an infinity of images reflected by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. The structure of the melody is made by a pair of phrases characterized by the alternation between ascending and descending movement with the fulcrum on the note A. This alternation, along with the overturning of the final intervals between adjacent phrases (for example, ascending sixth in the question - descending sixth in the answer), contributes to give the impression of a figure reflecting on a mirror and walking back and toward it.
The piece has been used in television, film, and theatre including:
1996 film Mother Night by Keith Gordon
2001 film In Praise of Love by Jean-Luc Godard
2001 film The Officers' Ward by François Dupeyron
2001 film Wit by Mike Nichols
2002 film Gerry by Gus Van Sant
2002 short film Dans le Noir du Temps by Jean-Luc Godard
2002 film Heaven by Tom Tykwer
2002 film Soldados de Salamina (Spain) by David Trueba
2002 film Swept Away by Guy Ritchie
2002 film On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate by Hong Sang-soo
2004 film Dear Frankie by Shona Auerbach
2005 film Time to Leave by François Ozon
2005 documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and 'The Final Solution' by Laurence Rees and Catherine Tatge
2008 film Elegy by Isabel Coixet
2011 film Burning Man by Jonathan Teplitzky
2011 film This Must Be the Place by Paolo Sorrentino
2011 documentary The Umbrella Man - New York Times Op-Docs by Errol Morris
2013 film About Time by Richard Curtis
2012 trailer Silent House
2013 trailer Gravity by Alfonso Cuarón
2013 film The East by Zal Batmanglij
2013 film Movie 43 by Peter Farrelly and others
2014 film The Way He Looks by Daniel Ribeiro
2021 film You Won't Be Alone by Goran Stolevski
2023 TV Ted Lasso by Nick Mohammed
Coversart streamings / socials:
linktr.ee/Coversart
#ArvoPart #SpiegelimSpiegel #Cello #Piano #minimalism

[@dkallanson9521]

I love this piece so much. I play it on my piano when I'm stressed or upset. It's such a long piece that I've usually forgotten my stress by the time I'm finished..... 😍🎹🎵💤🎶

[@hlpimcnfsdl9715]

for some lucky people the piano is the ultimate therapy. It mirrors the whole of the world and one note at a time I am able to face what must be faced, feel what must be felt. I got such bad news a few weeks ago about my brother...