On 17 June, a presentation will be held in Kiev of a Russian translation of a collection of essays and interviews compiled by Enzo Restagno. The book will be published with the following title: “Arvo Pärt – Conversations, explorations, musings” (“Арво Пярт. Беседы, исследования, размышления”), and published by the Ukrainian publishing house Dukh i Litera (Spirit and Word), which has published several important books in the fields of sociology, culture and philosophy, both in Russian and Ukrainian.
The book was compiled by the Italian musicologist, Enzo Restagno, and its first edition was published for the Turin festival “Settembre Musica” in 2004. Restagno has previously published many collections of interviews and essays about significant composers of the 20th century, for example, Luigi Nono, Sofia Gubaidulina, Tōru Takemitsu, Steve Reich and Alfred Schnittke among others. The Estonian edition of this book was published in 2005; then a German translation was completed by the publishing house Universal Edition, on which the English and French editions were based. The German edition is also the basis of the Russian book.
“Arvo Pärt – Conversations, explorations, musings” is the first thorough study of Pärt’s work available in Russian, comprising Enzo Restagno’s extensive interview with Arvo Pärt, Leopold Brauneiss’ text analysing the tintinnabuli-style, Saale Kareda’s essay “Towards the Source”, and two acceptance speeches by Arvo Pärt. In addition, Jelena Tokun’s article “Tintinnabuli – the source of an innovation” will be published for the first time in this collection.
In his foreword to the Russian translation of the book, Arvo Pärt states the following,
I am overjoyed about this long-awaited event. This book has an interesting, perhaps even a peculiar story. Although I live within the sphere of influence of Estonian as a native language in parallel with Russian, the first edition of this collection was published in Italy. An Estonian translation was completed a year later. Only now, several years later, have I in my hands this text in a language with such a special significance for me.
I can say that in addition to other influences, Russian culture and Slavic spirituality were serious guides for me throughout my creative quests. This “linguistic relationship” provides me the hope of meeting my “own” reader, who is familiar with the context of my quests.
I extend my great thanks to the team at the publishing house, a group of like minds: Dukh i Litera. Special thanks to Constantin Sigov, whose enthusiasm made this publication possible.
The presentation in Kiev is accompanied by a concert by Vox Clamantis, who will primarily perform Arvo Pärt’s work. Over four days, Arvo Pärt himself will be staying in Kiev, and participating in a programme introducing the cultural heritage of Ukraine.
Dukh i Litera has focused on publishing the most important titles in the humanities from the 20th and 21st centuries. Among others, a Russian translation of the famous book A Secular Age by the Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor, will also be presented.
This book presentation in Kiev has been supported by Arvo Pärt’s publishing house Universal Edition, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Estonia. The presentation and the concert will also be captured on film by a team of three from Minor Film.