Spiegel im Spiegel

Joe Kiraly plays me some music that perfectly reflects ourselves in the ice: Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror on mirror).

It’s been used in the film, Touching the Void.

From Wikipedia

Spiegel im Spiegel is a piece of music written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, just prior to his departure from Estonia. The piece is in the tintinnabular style of composition, wherein a melodic voice (which operates over diatonic scales) and tintinnabular voice (which operates within a tonic triad) accompany each other. Its duration is about 8 minutes.

The piece was originally written for a single piano and violin – though the violin has often been replaced with either a cello or a viola. Versions also exist for clarinet and horn. The piece is musically minimal, yet produces a serene tranquility.

The piece is in F major in 6/4 time, with the piano playing rising crotchet triads and the second instrument playing slow scales, alternately rising and falling, of increasing length, which all end on the note A (The mediant of F). The piano’s left hand also plays notes, syncopated with the violin (or other instrument).

“Spiegel im spiegel” in German literally can mean both “mirror in the mirror” as well as “mirrors in the mirror”, referring to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth. Perhaps the best translation of the title is “Parallel mirrors”.

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Posted on Friday, November 9th, 2007