Für Alina
Für Alina, (English: For Alina) is a work for piano, composed by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. It can be considered as an essential work of his tintinnabuli style.[1]
Für Alina
History of composition[edit]
Für Alina was first performed in Tallinn in 1976, along with six other works, after a long preparatory period in Pärt's life as a composer. This concert was the first to introduce his new signature style of composition, referred to as the tintinnabuli style.
The title echoes Beethoven's piece for solo piano Für Elise. While the identity of the dedicatee of Beethoven's work is unclear, Für Alina was dedicated to a family friend's eighteen-year-old daughter. The family had broken up and the daughter went to England with her father. The work, dedicated to the daughter, was actually meant as a work of consolation for the girl's mother, missing her child. Its introspection calls to mind a vivid image of youth, off to explore the world.
Recordings[edit]
A release endorsed by Pärt himself is the ECM New Series album entitled Alina, recorded in July 1995 and released in 1999. It includes two variations of Für Alina by pianist Alexander Malter. According to the liner notes, the two versions, somewhat like “mood improvisations,” were handpicked by Pärt from a recording that was originally hours long.[4] The two versions most strikingly differ in the use of rubato and that of the use of the low octave b. Both versions clock slightly under eleven minutes.
There are also versions by David Arden, Jeroen van Veen, and Olga Jegunova.[3][2]
Use in soundtracks[edit]
The piece has been used in film soundtracks, for example in the films Foxcatcher (2014), Abandon (2002), and Mostly Martha (2001), where it is performed by Alexander Malter.