until all the pitches in the A minor scale are represented in the fourth variation. The variations become increasingly close together as Pärt decreases the length of the G.P. after each variation by one beat. In variation eight, Pärt does not leave any silence, and instead writes a cadenza for all of the instruments. In the cadenza, the solo violins and prepared piano play ff arppegiated chords, while the string orchestra sections play a three-octave descending scale, beginning on “E.” The cadenza lasts 22 measures, until the piano plays the first accidental of the movement, F-sharp, signaling the beginning of the final section, meno mosso. The meno mosso is divided into two-bar phrases. The string orchestra plays a divided chord in steady quarter notes, while the solo violins arpeggiate notes of the chord in sixteenth notes above. Each time the key changes in the orchestra, the piano punctuates the texture with an A minor chord in both hands. The meno mosso works its way back to the key of A minor through several chords, beginning with a diminished F-sharp minor chord. When the soloists and orchestra finally reach the A minor chord, the soloists play the opening ff “A” octave, followed by four measures of silence in which the chamber orchestra plays a triple forte A minor chord. Silentium The second movement of Tabula Rasa, “Silentium,” or silence, is composed in the key of D minor, giving the impression of a V-I cadence in relation to "Ludus" in A minor. The movement begins with an arpeggiated D minor second inversion chord, played by the prepared piano. “Silentium” expands as a mensuration canon. Pärt divides the instruments into three sections; solo violins, violin I and violin II, and viola and cello. Each pair, divided into melodic and tintinnabuli voices, begin on a central pitch, and move at a different rhythmic speeds. Pärt expands the music by adding one pitch above and below the central pitch of each pair in each successive section. Every time the solo violins reach their central pitch, “D,” the piano again plays a D minor chord and the contrabass plays an octave “D.” Once each of the sections reach their expanded octave range, they fade out of the texture. The solo violins, moving at the slowest rhythmic speed, reach their octave span in measure 130, and then begin a downward descent of a D minor four-octave scale.