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VARIATIES (Variations) for piano solo (1961) is my first and only composition written in a twelve-tone style. Anton Webern's variations for piano opus 27 had just come to my attention and I also had a first glance at a few works by Arnold Schoenberg. I simply wanted to try it out and see if I could turn it into something musical. Variation 1 is the 'theme' - all other variations take it in various directions, stylistically. One variation is a direct homage to Webern's opus 27. The String Quartet (1963) was an exercise set by my teacher and mentor Ton de Leeuw. To date it is the only work in the genre I wrote. This is entirely due to circumstances because I feel great affinity with the ensemble and would like to experiment further into the realm of string playing if the opportunity arose. My Piano Quintet (1999) is the nearest I got to writing for a small string ensemble and a composition for string orchestra is scheduled in work in progress. Apart from that, it has to be remembered that whilst I was still a 'student' when I wrote the string quartet, I was struggling with both content, form and technique. When the Gaudeamus String Quartet took it on board in the sixties I was fascinated to hear it 'work' in the context of a concert audience, but at the same time discovering that there was a lot more to learn... PAROESIE (1963/67) was written in the same period as the string quartet, but when an opportunity arose for a performance a few years later, I rewrote the piece and made a new score altogether. It was performed by a section of the ASKO orchestra, which I conducted at the time and whose artistic director I was. Four memorable performances were given and on one of them the audience voted for a repeat performance at the end of the concert... I was preoccupied with the work of the Jesuit theologian, philosopher and anthropologist Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) in those days. The title is taken from one of his books (Le Milieu Divin) and refers to a belief that the end of time would converge upon the Christ-Omega, present in all observable phenomena. Paroesie reflects therefore a sense of divine omnipresence. Considering his views were strongly inspired by his geological and palaeontological preoccupations (he discovered Homo Pekinensis) they took on a very tangible, materialistic meaning which led me, soon after, to relinquish religion altogether. HERFST ('AUTUMN') 1965, is a complete revision of an earlier work for organ solo I wrote, called 'Terrasses Inondées' (inundated terasses). It received the Schnittger Organ Prize soon after and enjoyed a number of performances by various organists. Its construction is very simple and straightforward: it develops from a single tone that becomes 'unstable' and is slowly generating different ingredients which gradually get stuck in a cluster on a massive crescendo. At its climax the cluster, in turn, becomes unstable and branches out into a three-part polyphony whose progression is subject to constant changes of registration that take it slowly to the work's next climax: a whirlwind running up and down the expanse of the organ's reaches and petering out rather quickly until it 'empties' on a single note again. Because Herfst was written for the beautiful Schnittger Organ in Zwolle (The Netherlands) with its mechanical action, I made extensive use of an effect which is created by slowly pulling out and pushing back stops. Back to |
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