be prepared on the piano, and states, "Das Klavier soll nach Möglichkeit elektrisch verstärkt werden," which translates to, "The piano should be amplified if possible." Form Ludus The first movement of Tabula Rasa is entitled "Ludus," which means "game" in Latin. The movement contains alternating moments of silence and expanding canon variations, a cadenza, and a final meno mosso. The movement begins with the two solo violins playing a ff octave "A," followed by an eight beat grand pause (G.P.). This octave highlights the large four-octave pitch range on the violin, with violin II playing A3, and violin I playing A7. The string orchestra enters in pairs after the G.P. in the first "variation" on the pitch, "A." Pärt phases in each of the string instruments in pairs, violin I in two parts, violin II and viola, cello and contrabass. The pairs enter from highest to lowest pitch range every half measure, beginning with the first violins. Pärt divides each pair into a melodic and tintinnabuli voice. The melodic voice plays the notes of the A minor scale, and the tintinnabuli voice plays the notes of the A minor triad. When the cello and contrabass finish their melodic figure, the contrabass continues playing a pedal note "A," until in mm. 6, when the pattern reverses, and again the instrument sections are phased in, displaced by a half measure, but this time beginning with the lowest instrument pair (cello and contrabass). The string orchestra's phasing pattern is reflected in the solo violin parts. When the orchestra is phasing in each part from highest pitch range to lowest, the solo violin plays an eighth note melody, when the solo bass line is played, the solo parts switch and play triplets, and when the chamber orchestra reverses the pattern and phase in again from the lowest pitch range to highest, the solo violin line plays sixteenth notes. After the chamber orchestra finishes, one of the solo violins and the prepared piano play together, followed by a grand pause of seven beats. Pärt takes this variation pattern and expands upon it eight times, each time lengthening the melodic figure in the string orchestra parts by two beats. The variations increase in length from 8 measures, to 13, 17, 22, 26, 31 and 35, before the final variation. While the variations increase in length, Pärt also adds a new pitch or pitches to each variation