Tabula Rasa and the ECM Legacy

"One of the essential recordings in my library, and safe to say one of the greatest and most important releases in the recording era."

Re-cleaning the Slate

I had read about Arvo Pärt before I first heard his music, and the first thing I heard was the Tabula Rasa LP. I picked up a copy at the old Tower Records Annex at Astor Place and Lafayette, it was a cut-out and probably priced at $2.98.

The first track on side A is Fratres, the version for violin and piano, played by Gidon Kremer an…