One of the amazing things about Arvo Pärt is his ability to synthesize strong early music influences with contemporary technique. The great composers of the renaissance wrote polyponic music that was complex in its construction, yet strikingly simple and beautiful in its presentation. Arvo Pärt flawlessly weaves musical complexity and intellectual craftsmanship with a hauntingly beautiful and strikingly simple musical sensibility. Pärt's music is beautiful in its honesty.
In fact, Pärt is a master of duality. His music is at once complex and simple, his influences ancient and new, and his effect intimate yet epic. It is a true testament to his ability that his music can seem to occupy such a grand scale, while simultaneously connecting in a direct and meaningful way to the listener.
I personally find Pärt to be my greatest influence as a composer. In my own choral works, I find myself emulating some of Pärt's technique. It is in his music that I find the deepest inspiration for my own.
The secret of Pärt's musical success may be summed in a single quote.
"I have discovered that it is enough when a single note is beautifully played. This one note, or a silent beat, or a moment of silence, comforts me."