The conductor, rehearsing "The Beatitudes" by composer Arvo Pärt, looked skeptical. He sought a rational analysis. "Exactly how many beats long is it?" he demanded. "What do you do during the silence?"
"You don't do anything," the musician explained, "you wait. God does it."
The slightly perplexed looks on the faces of the performers reflected the feeling many people have on first hearing of a new style revolutionizing the classical music world. Called "holy minimalism" for lack of a better description, the music of three composers - John Tavener of England, Arvo Pärt of Estonia, and Henryk Górecki of Poland - has found an enormously receptive audience, filling concert halls and generating best-selling CDs by reuniting classical music with, of all things, contemplative spirituality.
This music, including popular works like Górecki's Symphony No. 3, Pärt's Tabula Rasa, and Tavener's The Protecting Veil, resonates even with people who never before listened to classical music. Górecki is the first living classical music composer whose music topped the Billboard charts; his Symphony No. 3 has sold over a million copies. A health worker cited the cult status of Pärt's Tabula Rasa among terminally ill patients who called it "angel music" and asked to hear it as they died. John Tavener, already beloved by choirs worldwide for his beautiful, meditative music, burst into international public awareness in 1997, when the ecstatically soaring Song for Athene was performed at the funeral of Princess Diana as her coffin was carried from Westminster Abbey. Awestruck, thousands of people asked, "What was that song?" and Tavener CDs began flying off shelves. Tavener's "Lamentation and Praises" (read a review or hear an audio clip) just won the 2003 Grammy award in the category of Classical Contemporary Composition.
