Between Two Sounds

Sildre’s exceptional biography of the experimental Estonian composer finds novel ways to visualize his revolutionary sound. The comics storytelling translates the minimalist beauty and power of Pärt’s music to the page. … Lovers of art and music will be inspired. —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Joonas Sildre’s graphic biography Between Two Sounds is about Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s lifelong quest to break new ground. … The art does an exceptional job of expressing the power of music in a visual format. … A perfect graphic novel introduction to the life and work of an acclaimed modern master of music. —Foreword Reviews

To create this book, illustrator Sildre (Messages from Ukraine) conducted research for roughly ten years and collaborated with Arvo Pärt, the Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Now 88, Pärt is the world’s second most performed living composer. A remarkable tale that’s enriched with few words and plenty of neutral-toned illustrations, it beautifully spotlights movement and the music of Pärt. —Library Journal

Sildre brilliantly uses simple lines– presented in swirls, circles, empty musical staffs – to explicate, connect, and enhance Pärt's creative and emotional musical journeys, moving up, down, straight, corkscrew, around and around, and continuing off the pages. Sildre's art radiantly confirms Pärt will not be contained, spreading his music throughout the world. —Shelf Awareness

“A beautifully told look at a fascinating, under-discussed life.” —Evangelical Church Library Association 
"Joonas Sildre employs an imaginative and narrative force in his clear, reduced images – images that exploit empty space in the way Arvo Pärt’s music exploits silence." —Nick Sternitzke, WRD 3 
"This book is an invitation to understand Arvo Pärt and his seemingly simple compositions, which have baffled the music critics but cast a spell over audiences." —Ralf Julke, Leipziger Zeitung
"This extraordinary book, with its interplay of calm and dynamic, goes along well with Pärt’s music. It brings fans closer to Arvo Pärt as a person and will make the uninitiated curious." —Dorothea Husslein, SWR 2 
“For fans a thoroughly successful homage and for others a very good introduction that invites you to step into the magical cathedrals of Pärt’s music.” —Thomas Böhm, Radio Eins 
"Sildre finds exciting ways to graphically depict music that shouldn’t be missed." —Casten Jaehner, Comic Couch
"Pärt seeks silence in music, and Sildre creates this silence in the pictures." —Gregor Lilla, Élet és Irodalom 

To capture in visual form this incredible movement in a great composer’s soul is difficult. To capture it in comic panels, using only white, black, and sepia, is remarkable. Yet that is what Sildre has done: in keeping with Pärt’s conviction that at its heart reality is simple, he has distilled the stirring epic of a Soviet-era struggle for an authentically religious artistic voice down to a clear, straightforward, visually streamlined tale. —Comment Magazine