As the violins move down the scale, the lower voices return to the texture and assist in the downward motion, until the violins finish their scale, leaving solo viola, solo cello, and solo bass to continue the scale in their low register. The viola and the cello finish the scale, leaving only the contrabass, which continues to play until reaching “E,” or the second scale degree of the D minor scale. Pärt omits the final “D” of the scale, leaving the listener with four written bars of silence in which to resolve the piece. Reception and influence Notable performances The first performance of Tabula Rasa in Tallinn 1977 was considered to be a major success. The composer Erkki-Sven Tüür, said about the performance: "I was carried beyond. I had the feeling that eternity was touching me through this music...nobody wanted to start clapping." Recording In 1984, Arvo Pärt began his longtime collaboration with ECM and Manfred Eicher. “Tabula Rasa” was the title of the first ECM recording of Pärt's music released in 1984. The CD included Fratres (for violin and piano), Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Fratres (for twelve celli), and Tabula Rasa. The liner notes for “Tabula Rasa,” written by Wolfgang Sandler, set the tone for Pärt's marketing as a “holy minimalist.” The photographs of Pärt depict him as an icon-like figure, reflecting his Orthodox Christian beliefs and influences. The simplicity and minimal design of the packaging set the tone for all subsequent releases of Pärt's music with ECM. Palliative care In an article in The New Yorker in December 2002, music critic Alex Ross discussed the use of Tabula Rasa in palliative care for AIDS and cancer patients facing the end of their disease. Caretakers working with the AIDS patients would often be asked to play the "angel music," which was the dying patients’ name for the second movement of Tabula Rasa, "Silentium." References Pärt, Arvo. “Tabula Rasa”. ECM Records, ECM 1275, 1984. Pärt, Glass, Martynov. "Silencio". Nonesuch Records, 2000. Ross, Alex. "Consolations: Arvo Pärt." The New Yorker. December 2 (2002) Cizmic, Maria. “Transcending the Icon: Spirituality and Postmodernism in Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa and Spiegel im Spiegel.” Twentieth-Century Music. May (2008): 45–79. Lubow, Arthur. "The Sound of Spirit." The New York Times 17 Oct. 2010, Sunday Magazine, 34. External links ECM Records Compositions by Arvo Pärt 1977 compositions Double violin concertos Works for prepared piano