Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when ...

Tintinnabulation is an area I sometimes wander into when I am searching for answers - in my life, my music, my work. In my dark hours, I have the certainty that everything outside this one thing has  no meaning. The complex and many-faceted only confuses me and I must search for unity. What is it, this one thing, and how do I find my way to it? Traces of this perfect thing appear in many guises - and everything that is unimportant falls away. Tintinnabulation is like this. Here I am alone with silence. I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me. I work with very few elements - with one voice, with two voices. I build with the most primitve materials - with the triad, with one specific tonality. The three notes of a triad are like bells. And that is why I called it tintinnabulation.

Arvo Pärt, liner notes