Prt's works are generally divided into two periods.

He composed his early works using a

range of neo-classical styles influenced by Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Bartk. He then
began to compose using Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique and serialism. This,
however, not only earned the ire of the Soviet establishment, but also proved to be a
creative dead-end. When early works were banned by Soviet censors, Prt entered the
first of several periods of contemplative silence, during which he studied choral music
from the 14th to 16th centuries.[4] In this context, Prt's biographer, Paul Hillier,
observed that "He had reached a position of complete despair in which the composition
of music appeared to be the most futile of gestures, and he lacked the musical faith and
willpower to write even a singlenote."[citation needed]The spirit of early European
polyphony informed the composition of Prt's transitional Third Symphony (1971);
thereafter he immersed himself in early music, reinvestigating the roots of Western music.
He studied plainsong, Gregorian chant andthe emergence of polyphony in the European
Renaissance.The music that began to emerge after this period was radically different.
This period of new compositions included Fratres, Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin
Brittenand Tabula Rasa.[4] Prt describes the music of this period as tintinnabuli

like theringing of bells. Spiegel im Spiegel (1978) is a well-known example which has
been used in many films. The music is characterised by simple harmonies, often single
unadorned notes, or triads, which form the basis of Western harmony. Theseare
reminiscent of ringing bells. Tintinnabuli works are rhythmically simple anddo not
change tempo. Another characteristic of Prt's later works is that they are frequently
settings for sacred texts, although he mostly chooses Latin or theChurch Slavonic
language used in Orthodox liturgy instead of his native Estonianlanguage. Large-scale
works inspired by religious texts include St. John Passion, Te Deum, and Litany. Choral
works from this period include Magnificat and TheBeatitudes.[4]Of Prt's popularity,
Steve Reich has written: "Even in Estonia, Arvo was gettingthe same feeling that we were
all getting .... I love his music, and I love thefact that he is such a brave, talented man ....
He's completely out of step withthe zeitgeist and yet he's enormously popular, which is so
inspiring. His musicfulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion."[10]
Prt's musiccame to public attention in the West largely thanks to Manfred Eicher who
recorded several of Prt's compositions for ECM Records starting in 1984.Invited by
Walter Fink, Prt was the 15th composer featured in the annual Komponistenportrt of
the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2005 in four concerts. Chamber musicincluded Fr Alina
for piano, played by himself, Spiegel im Spiegel and Psalom forstring quartet. The
chamber orchestra of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestraplayed his Trisagion,
Fratres and Cantus along with works of J.S. Bach. The Windsbach Boys Choir and
soloists Sibylla Rubens, Ingeborg Danz, Markus Schfer and Klaus Mertens performed
Magnificat and Collage ber B-A-C-H together with two cantatas of Bach and one of
Mendelssohn. The Hilliard Ensemble, organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, the
Rostock Motet Choir and the Hilliard instrumental ensemble,conducted by Markus
Johannes Langer, performed a program of Prt's organ music and works for voices (some
a cappella), including Pari Intervallo, De profundis, and Miserere.A new composition,
Fr Lennart, written for the memory of the Estonian President,Lennart Meri, was played
at his funeral service on 2 April 2006.In response to the murder of the Russian
investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow on 7 October 2006, Prt declared

that all of his works performed in2006 and 2007 would be in honour of her death, issuing
the following statement:"Anna Politkovskaya staked her entire talent, energy and

in the end

even her life on saving people who had become victims of the abuses prevailing in
Russia."[11]