Arvo Pärt 90

My first session with Arvo Pärt in 2006

Arvo Pärt 90

Thank you for the light, the love, and for teaching us silence

I had the opportunity to portray Arvo for the first time nearly 20 years ago. I’m deeply grateful to Anneli Unt, then director of the Philharmonic Chamber Choir, who invited me to photograph a small gathering at the Väravatorn. Somehow, it all began in exactly the right way. It was a modest, heartfelt occasion of gratitude, filled with a special atmosphere.

It was a time when silent cameras didn’t exist, and the click of a shutter in a small room was so loud it could shatter the magic of the moment. Although I had been invited to photograph the event, I intuitively felt that I simply must not disturb those moments with the sound of my camera. I waited patiently and took only 30–40 shots throughout the entire gathering. That was the first lesson in silence Arvo gave me—just through his presence, without even knowing it. I like to believe (though it’s a myth of my own making) that because of that discretion, I received one of my all-time favorite portraits from that event. Looking at that image, I sometimes think that such pictures and moments are gifts, and as the author, I have no other role than to be the vessel through which the gift is passed.

The second very important chapter was the recording of “Adam’s Lament” at Niguliste Church. My friend and colleague Jarek Jõepera was actually invited to photograph that significant session, but he simply said he felt I should be the one to do it. I believe he wanted to and could have done it himself, but sensed that it would mean a great deal to me. I haven’t thanked him enough for that. Soon after, Karin Laansoo, who was working with Arvo Pärt at the time, called me, and once I had passed under Nora’s discerning gaze, everything came together. My memory for such details is admittedly poor, but I believe that’s roughly how it happened.

That recording was a turning point for me. To witness Arvo, Tõnu Kaljuste, and Manfred Eicher working together up close. It was also the first time I saw large electrostatic speakers in real life—I simply stood in front of them, listened, and marveled at how such sound reproduction was even possible. I think it remains the most magical playback of sound I’ve ever heard. Summing up the whole process briefly, I felt I managed to be practically invisible during those days in Niguliste Church, without disturbing anyone. From that, I learned that there are moments when it’s more valuable to be unseen, even if it means letting go of certain photographic opportunities—until your presence is almost forgotten.

The third chapter, which I consider especially important, was the exhibition “Ansel” at the Arvo Pärt Centre. It was an exhibition whose name could just as well have been “Adam,” “Ansel,” or “Arvo”—the first describing the narrative, the second the cause, and the third the resolution. That exhibition at the Centre felt like the fulfillment of a dream. For that, I’m especially grateful to the entire Pärt family and the extended Centre family, all of whom contributed to making it happen.

And I would like to end with Arvo’s own words, written as the foreword to the “Ansel” exhibition:

Great secrets lie behind beauty and behind seeing it – and one can talk about them in different

ways, to the extent that one is able to see, hear and understand.

I believe that the painter is looking for it through the movement of his hand. And the one who

writes – his words acquire their flow and their streamlined form through it. The same goes for

the one who speaks. As well as for the one who makes music, who is looking for a sound, for

order – for everything behind the sound. And for the one who is looking for it through the

camera, the same things come into play, for instance light.

Nothing changes in us or around us until we have discovered the “secret passage” that leads to

a new horizon, to equilibrium, to calmness. It happens when the ability to love comes alive in

us, when everything happens through love. It is then that every word, sound and image of ours

will acquire power and force.