Diagramme

Diagramme (1964) is from Pärt’s earliest creative period and it is the first aleatoric piano piece in Estonian music. Aleatory music involves elements of chance, meaning that certain aspects of the composition are left undetermined. In Diagramme, the aleatoric elements are rhythm and dynamics, which the performer is free to determine throughout the piece. This is also a serialist composition, where the pitch is precisely fixed and organised using the twelve-tone technique. The original score for Diagramme contains striking coloured circles in blue, green, yellow and pink, connecting the notes of the row into motifs and phrases.