Some music is made for playing whilst cruising down the highway or getting ready to go out on the town. And some music is made for playing whilst wearing slippers, sipping coffee and glancing at the Sunday papers. Spiegel im Spiegel is most definitely in the latter category.

Written by Arvo Pärt in 1978, in his native Estonia, Spiegel im Spiegel is a minimalist piece in the so-called tintinnabular style of composition (a term coined by Pärt himself, from the Latin tintinnabulum, “bell”), wherein a melodic voice operating over diatonic scales, and a tintinnabular voice, operating within a triad on the tonic, accompany each other. The effect is calming and meditative.

The piece was written for a single piano and violin, and here is a beautiful version featuring Nicola Benedetti on violin and Alexei Grynyuk on piano. The piano plays rising crotchet triads and the violin plays slow, sustained notes, alternately rising and falling, and of increasing length.

Incidentally, Spiegel im Spiegel in German literally means “mirror in the mirror”, representing, I suppose, the idea of an infinity of images reflected by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations, as if reflected back and forth. In any event, if, like me, you cherish an occasional calm and still environment in a hectic world, this is for you. I recommend just putting the piece on at a quiet time and, rather than concentrating on it, simply let it fill the room with its serene quality whilst you do something else. You will be spiritually refreshed without even realising it!