海角大神

Walking beneath the whispering pines of Estonia鈥檚 majestic forests, along a path edged by pale-colored lichen and blueberry plants, a visitor arrives at a curved building that seems to rise out of the earth. It鈥檚 a music center and a library devoted to world-renowned Estonian composer Arvo P盲rt, whose compositions translate the stillness and peace of his country鈥檚 forests into sound.聽

The Arvo P盲rt Center is nestled in the forest where the composer and his wife live, an hour outside the capital, Tallinn. The 30,600-square-foot, pentagon-shaped structure is a joint venture between the P盲rt family and the Estonian government, which financed it. That this project became reality in a country of only 1.3 million people testifies to how culture 鈥� and Mr. P盲rt鈥檚 role in it 鈥� is embraced by Estonians.

Exiled for decades because of antagonism from the former Soviet government, Mr. P盲rt returned to Estonia in 2010. Calling him a cultural ambassador, President Kersti Kaljulaid said that the composer鈥檚 work 鈥� particularly his 1978 鈥淪piegel im Spiegel鈥� (Mirror in the Mirror) whose radical simplicity revolutionized music 鈥� continues to 鈥渟ay more in today鈥檚 confusingly multipolar world than perhaps ever before.鈥�

鈥淭hrough your music we can experience the multitude of sounds hidden within one carefully considered note,鈥� President Kaljulaid told international guests assembled at the opening celebration in October.聽

It is a fitting tribute, says T玫nu Kaljuste, the founder of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, who is regarded as one of the composer鈥檚 most trusted interpreters. 鈥淧盲rt is not your typical classical composer. He thinks differently, and this center is a place where people can think differently,鈥� he says.

Few other living composers have reached such a worldwide audience as Mr. P盲rt, an adherent of the 海角大神 Orthodox faith.聽

Simplicity, silence, and spirituality are woven together in the tapestry of his music, allowing him to 鈥減enetrate the soul of so many different kinds of listeners,鈥� says Peter Bouteneff, who teaches at St. Vladimir鈥檚 Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York. The composer has influenced generations of musicians, from Keith Jarrett and Radiohead to Sting and John Adams, and his music has been featured in films such as 鈥淔ahrenheit 9/11.鈥� He鈥檚 perhaps best known for his choral compositions, many of them set to religious texts.

鈥淎rvo P盲rt has created a whole new musical aesthetic of stillness and hypnotic beauty that is very refreshing in today鈥檚 fast-paced world,鈥� says composer Eric Tuan from Palo Alto, California. 鈥淗is music speaks to people who are searching for quiet, reflection, stillness, spirituality, even if the people are not particularly religious.鈥澛�

And now precious bits of Mr. P盲rt鈥檚 creative history are sheltered at the new center. They help visitors understand a unique journey shaped by the Soviet authorities鈥� ban of the 1968 piece 鈥淐redo鈥� (鈥淚 believe鈥� in Latin), his subsequent eight years of creative silence and spiritual search, and the new composition style that resulted.

Original scores are included, as well as diaries Mr. P盲rt kept in the 1970s when he was searching for a new voice. The diaries include various harmonic accompaniments to melodies marked in bright-colored ink, along with comments he wrote in Estonian, Russian, Latin, German, and English.

The center鈥檚 mission is to bring researchers and lay people closer to his music, and to the creative process.聽

鈥淲e want to teach how to listen to music,鈥� says film-music editor Michael P盲rt, Mr. P盲rt鈥檚 youngest son and the driving force behind the center. 鈥淢y father鈥檚 music works very well because it needs a certain amount of endurance to listen to.鈥�

Mr. P盲rt no longer gives formal interviews. But, on his way to the little office at the center, he sometimes stumbles upon and questions visitors with humility and curiosity that those who know him say define his personality. Asked about the role of silence in his music during a recent encounter with a journalist, the composer placed his hand on his heart. 鈥淪ilence is here,鈥� he said.

Mr. P盲rt explained to a German journalist in 1988, 鈥淚 cannot say in a thousand sentences what I can say in a few notes.鈥� Studying Gregorian chant, he said, 鈥渢aught me what a cosmic secret is hidden in the art of combining two, three notes.鈥�

The center鈥檚 design was 鈥渋nspired by the silence, beauty, and the geometry of Arvo P盲rt鈥檚 music,鈥� says Enrique Sobejano of Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, who was selected out of a field of 70 architects from 21 countries to design the $9 million center.

The center is sparsely furnished and there are no corners or right angles so that the space flows. There鈥檚 a library with books that have influenced Mr. P盲rt, including many theology books, a 140-seat concert hall, and a video room. Courtyards and glass panels let the forest and the light into the building.聽

There鈥檚 a little chapel and a tower with a spiral staircase that opens onto views of the Baltic Sea.聽

鈥淭he tower is to the sea, to the heavens. It鈥檚 just the subjective part of my father鈥檚 music,鈥� Michael P盲rt says. 鈥淵ou need to have inspiration in order to do everything that鈥檚 inside this place.鈥�