Wilma de Rek

If you have never heard of the Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt I would suggest you'd first listen to some of his music, and starting with his masterpiece, called Canto ostinato would be an excellent choice.

Simeon ten Holt (1923 - 2012) was a Dutch composer whose work belongs to so called modern classical music. While the music composed during his middle period was minimalistic, he abandoned that style in favour of more melodious music, which however still has strong ties with what many people would consider minimalistic music. These compositions, which he composed from the early 1970s are often of a long duration, such as 1.5 to 4 hours, and were often composed for four pianos. Later, other compositions like Canto Ostinato followed, such as Lemniscaat and Horizon.

Simeon ten Holt lived almost all his life in Bergen, the artists villlage near my hometown (5 km). As a young student I once witnessed the premiere of one of his pieces, there, nl. Lemniscaat. From the age of 17, I was already enthralled by his work. Now, nearly 40 years on, Ten Holt is a widely popular composer, and his magnificient masterwork "Canto Ostinato" is performed more than once a month at various concert locations, despite the fact that it is such a long piece, requiring (ideally) four pianos.

Canto Ostinato. Simeon ten Holt over zijn meesterwerk is a monograph about his masterpiece. The book consists of three parts, plus a DVD and a CD. The first part of the book consists of an interbiew with the composer, in which he talks about his life and his work. The second part consists of facsimile sheets of music of the score of the music. The third part consists of essays and contributions of performers and friends of the composer, who talk about him or the music. Some of these people are considered among the most knowing about the work, building on years of practice in the performance of the works.

On August 17, I attended a performance of Canto Ostinato for four pianos plus organ at the Royal Concert Gebouw in Amsterdam, and my reading of this book was in preparation for that. The appendices of the book enlist all major compositions, discography, and various performances for different instrumentation. The DVD and CD contain recordings of the work.

A very interesting book, altogether.… (plus d'informations)

Denker des Vaderlands!

Stel René Gude een vraag en hij geeft origineel antwoord vol humor en filosofische wijsheid. Het maakt Gude tot misschien wel de meest spraakmakende Nederlandse filosoof van dit moment. Hij maakt deel uit van filosofisch elftal van Trouw, geeft lezingen op Lowlands, spreekt in filosofische cafés, treedt op bij TEDx en schrijft vaak in Filosofie Magazine, het tijdschrift waarvan hij hoofdredacteur was voordat hij als directeur bij Internationale School voor Wijsbegeerte aantrad. En hij heeft nog maar één been. Het andere werd een jaar geleden geamputeerd, toen de kanker terugkeerde. Toch zal hij ook dit jaar tijdens de Filosofienacht weer aan stand-up philosophy doen: losjes improviserend de (levens)vragen van het publiek beantwoorden… (plus d'informations)