Arvo Part

"Throughout the decade, Part struggled to use advanced technique that never fully expressed what his heart longed for. It all came to a head in 1968 with the composition of CREDO, a setting of Matthew 5:38-39 ("You have heard it said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you: do not resist evil") for piano, chorus, and orchestra. The audience loved it. The authorities, who by now could accept serialism, believed its was an act of defiance because of its title. The piece was banned in the Soviet Union for over a decade. The compositions does have a message embedded in its musical development: nonviolence is ultimately more forceful than violence. Hillier thoroughly analyzes CREDO. He is well qualified to do this, being not only a specialist in early music (he is director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington) but also the conductor of the Theatre of Voices, a group that has recorded more of Arvo Part's work than any other.
Hillier's argument is that Credo brought the composer to a sort of impasse, a crisis that deeply affected his creative process."Hillier, Paul is the author of 'Arvo Part' with ISBN 9780198166160 and ISBN 0198166168.