When someone makes extraordinary music in a crucible of state terror, deep faith and dazzling talent, how on earth do you write about it?
In this case, the images help.
Kahe heli vahel (Arvo Pärt Centre 2018), or Between Two Sounds (Plough 2024) visualizes the story of an extraordinary musician, Arvo Pärt. The music in his head and in the listeners’ ears swirls across the page.
The blacks and whites and greys feel right for Estonia under Soviet occupation.
The few words are enough for a man of few words, who is reserved and private.
A silent medium works surprisingly well for a life between two sounds.
If you feel sceptical about the move from weighty tomes to graphic novels, here you don’t need to be. It fits. It feels like his music.
Joonas Sildre has made a beautiful book. All those rave reviews of Adam Cullen’s English translation passed me by. But I found it in Kaisu Lahikainen’s Finnish translation, Kahden sävelten välissä (Suuri kurpitsa 2024) in my local library. There’s a few copies, quietly making the rounds, almost all on loan. Like the music, it’s a revelation.
Read it!
Translator, editor, writer, reader
found in translation 
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