Shorter Works and Litany

Abstract

Abstract In earlier chapters the discussion of individual works followed approximately their chronological order of composition, as this usefully portrayed the evolution of Part’s musical language. By the time he arrived in the West, Part had consolidated the tintinnabuli style, so each new work appeared as a fresh manifestation of this strongly centred vision. Each work has a very specific identity, certainly, often using tintinnabuli principles in a manner unique to that work, but to discuss this later music in chronological order would imply that there has continued to be a strong linear development far more than is really the case. I make this observation in a qualified manner, because in certain respects the tintinnabuli style has grown, but this is less a case of development from one point to the next, and more one of expansion of a central concept. I do not mean to imply that Part has stood still, but rather that he has moved around ‘within’ tintinnabuli, stretching certain elements in different ways perhaps, but always able to return (one feels) to the basic tintinnabuli language at a moment’s notice.