The Challenges of Transition: Arvo Pärt’s ‘Transitional’ Symphony No. 3 between Polystylism and Tintinnabuli

As part of my doctoral research on Alfred Schnittke’s symphonies I analysed countless symphonies written not only by Schnittke ([Al’fred Šnitke] 1934–1998) himself, but also by a host of his Soviet contemporaries including Galina Ustvolskaya ([Galina Ustvol’skaâ] 1919–2006), Boris Chaikovsky ([Boris Cajkovskij] 1925–1996), Nikolai Karetnikov ([Nikolaj Karetnikov] 1930–1994), Sofia Gubaidulina ([Sofiâ Gubajdulina] born 1931), Valentin Silvestrov ([Valentin Silvestrov] born 1937), Boris Tishchenko ([Boris Tiˆsenko] 1939–2010) and many others. Among them, the symphonies by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (born 1935) really stood out, because each one of them is unique and quite different from the Shostakovichian symphonic model that was prevalent among this generation