Simeon ten Holt

SIMEON TEN HOLT

(born in Bergen, Netherlands, 24 January 1923) is a Dutch composer. Ten Holt studied with Jakob van Domselaer, eventually developing a highly personal style of minimal composition. Ten Holt generally uses consonant, tonal materials and his works are organized in numerous cells, made up of a few measures each, which are repeated ad libitum according to the player's preference.

Many of Ten Holt's works (as, for example, Canto Ostinato) employ harmonies quite similar to those used by European composers of the Romantic period. Thus, his style of minimal composition is truly European in its orientation and has been little influenced by North American minimal composers, whose works draw more often on rock, jazz, and world music.



Van Domselaer's influence on ten Holt's musical philosophy has been considerable, with the younger composer picking up van Domselaer's interests in the links between music and visual art, in music's relationship with mathematics, and in the use of the piano as a principal instrument in his compositions. Indeed, many of ten Holt's works are for piano or ensembles of multiple pianos.

One of the best known interpreters of the music of Simeon ten Holt is the Dutch pianist Kees Wieringa. He has recorded several CDs of ten Holt's music.
-Wiki

The imperturbability of the most recognizable composer in the Netherlands
"'There's Simeon ten Holt and then there's all the rest,' the composer of works such as Canto Ostinato, Horizon and Lesmiscaat once said jokingly of his own position in Dutch musical life". Even today, one could say that, in a sense, this is still true. Anyone challenging a select group of contemporary music lovers to a fiery debate need only mention a single composer's name: that of Simeon ten Holt (b. 1923).
In the late 1970s, Ten Holt provoked the wrath of countless musical know-alls by returning to sounds that every ear could understand. He had the courage to abandon the complex, twelve-tone scores of the post-war era, which he traded in for simple triads, shifting rhythmic patterns and repeat signs. Complete independent of American composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass, Ten Holt created a Dutch version of minimal music. Although Ten Holt deviated from the American approach by placing more importance on process than on technique and by taking an interest in the social interaction that occurs (in the case of several musicians) and the 'liberation of the musical object', the listener need not be aware of this to appreciate his music. The music that was and still is denounced by the diehards of the serial school as 'insipid cult music' and 'fatal, new simplicity' became the new music that spoke to the experience of an ever-growing audience.

- Paul Janssen

An eleven CD set available of his "Complete Music for Multiple Pianos" performed by Irene Russo, Fred Oldenburg, Sandra van Veen & Jeroen van Veen in this blog, thanks to torrents XploringUru.



CD 01 (total time 56:34) Lemniscaat Part I
CD 02 (total time 52:34) Lemniscaat Part II
CD 03 (total time 47:45) Lemniscaat Part III
CD 04 (total time 64:45) Horizon Part I
CD 05 (total time 68:33) Horizon Part II
CD 06 (total time 34:07) Solodevilsdance Parts I & II
CD 07 (total time 51:33) Solodevilsdance Parts III & IV
CD 08 (total time 72:25) Meandres
CD 09 (total time 56:32) Canto Ostinato Part I
CD 10 (total time 54:15) Canto Ostinato Part II
CD 11 (total time 53:04) Canto Ostinato Part III


Highlights CD 01 Lemniscaat Part I



Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)

minimal

01. (0:44) Ambiance
02. (1:14) Refrain
03. (5:10) Episode I
04. (6:29) Episode II
05. (6:30) Episode III
06. (7:54) Episode IV
07. (4:21) Episode V
08. (8:00) Episode VI a
09. (4:10) Episode VI b and c
10. (4:23) Episode VII
11. (6:28) Episode VIII
12. (1:11) Refrain

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.


Highlights CD 02 Lemniscaat Part II



Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)

minimal

01. (3:46) Episode IX introduction
02. (9:20) Episode IX
03. (2:03) Episode X
04. (4:31) Episode XI
05. (3:08) Episode XII
06. (6:12) Episode XIII
07. (8:31) Episode XIV
08. (0:23) Episode V
09. (9:58) Episode VI a
10. (4:12) Episode VI b and c
11. (0:30) Episode VII

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.


Highlights CD 03 Lemniscaat Part III



Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano), John Brink (piano) and Anita van Groningen à Stulingen (piano)


minimal

01. (4:31) Episode VII
02. (6:34) Episode VIII and refrain 1st ch.
03. (2:13) Episode IX
04. (8:16) Episode IX, bar 5a
05. (2:25) Episode X
06. (2:47) Episode XIII, bar 8
07. (1:18) Episode XIV a and b
08. (3:59) Episode XIV c
09. (5:57) Episode XV
10. (7:32) Episode XVI
11. (1:16) Refrain

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, February 14th, 1988.


Highlights CD 04 Horizon Part I



Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Fred Oldenburg (piano), Yoko Abe (piano) and Margaret Krill (piano)

minimal

01. (0:29) Ambiance
02. (4:03) Section 1
03. (3:14) Section 8
04. (4:49) Section 11
05. (3:13) Section 16
07. (4:10) Section 23
08. (5:49) Section 28
09. (4:17) Section 35
10. (4:35) Section 39
11. (4:48) Section 43
12. (4:12) Section 50
13. (2:43) Section 56
14. (1:49) Section 66
15. (5:08) Section 71
16. (2:25) Section 75
17. (4:26) Section 78
18. (0:59) Section 83

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 10th, 1988.


Highlights CD 05 Horizon Part II



Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Fred Oldenburg (piano), Yoko Abe (piano) and Margaret Krill (piano)

minimal

01. (0:25) Section 83
02. (4:05) Section 85
03. (3:48) Section 86
04. (4:30) Section 91
05. (1:14) Section 94
06. (4:11) Section 97
07. (4:11) Section 103
08. (4:25) Section 108
09. (1:54) Section 109
10. (2:16) Section 113
11. (3:10) Section 117
12. (8:50) Section 121
13. (4:59) Section 137
14. (4:15) Section 142
15. (5:06) Section 147
16. (3:42) Section 155
17. (2:11) Section 161
18. (4:32) Section 165
19. (0:49) Ambiance, applause

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 10th, 1988.

Highlights CD 06 Solodevilsdance Parts I & II



Solodevilsdance I:
Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano)
Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, April 25th, 1991.

Solodevilsdance II:
Performed by Polo de Haas (piano)
Recorded live at St. Aegten Chapel, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, November 16th, 1991.

minimal

01. (03:39) Solodevilsdance I
02. (15:22) Solodevilsdance II Section 1
03. (05:03) Solodevilsdance II Section 56
04. (04:01) Solodevilsdance II Section 76
05. (06:02) Solodevilsdance II Section 93



Highlights CD 07 Solodevilsdance Parts III & IV



Solodevilsdance III:
Performed by Kees Wieringa (piano)
Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, June 15th & 16th, 1998.

Solodevilsdance IV:
Performed by Jeroen van Veen (piano)
Recorded at Gebouw Kunst & Wetenschappen, September 17th, 2000.

minimal

01. (26:00) Solodevilsdance III
02. (25:33) Solodevilsdance IV



Highlights CD 08 Méandres



Performed by Polo de Haas (piano), Kees Wieringa (piano), Ellen Dijkhuizen (piano) and Fred Oldenburg (piano)

minimal

01. (4:35) Section 1
02. (8:30) Section 8
03. (1:50) Section 21
04. (1:06) Section 31
05. (2:35) Section 37
06. (4:47) Section 42
07. (9:21) Section 53
08. (5:58) Section 74
09. (1:41) Section 87
10. (3:29) Section 88
11. (3:04) Section 101
12. (5:49) Section 106
13. (1:10) Section 122
14. (1:49) Section 125
15. (1:23) Section 130
16. (1:20) Section 135
17. (1:59) Section 138
18. (1:13) Section 145
19. (2:01) Section 149
20. (1:56) Section 155
21. (2:27) Section 161
22. (1:42) Section 167
23. (2:40) Section 168


Highlights CD 09 Canto Ostinato Part I



Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (00:32) Ambiance
02. (09:11) Section 1
03. (10:42) Section 11
04. (08:10) Section 20
05. (06:54) Section 25
06. (04:02) Section 35
07. (08:38) Section 41
08. (08:08) Section 56
09. (00:15) Section 69


Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.


Highlights CD 10 Canto Ostinato Part II



Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (03:50) Section 69
02. (02:50) Section 74 theme
03. (04:03) Section 78
04. (05:44) Section 83
05. (09:27) Section 88
06. (10:58) Section 88 C p.35
07. (06:50) Section 88 F p.38
08. (05:52) Section 88 F p.41
09. (04:16) Section 88 E p.43
10. (00:25) Section 88 C p.45

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.


Highlights CD 11 Canto Ostinato Part III



Performed by Gerard Bouwhuis (piano), Gene Carl (piano), Cees van Zeeland (piano) and Arielle Vernède (piano)

minimal

01. (3:37) Section 88 C p.45
02. (5:27) Section 88 K p.47
03. (1:37) Section 88 G p.49
04. (5:46) Section 89
05. (9:07) Section 91 C p.52
06. (9:40) Section 91 A p.54
07. (7:16) Section 91 F p.57
08. (1:42) Section 92
09. (1:26) Section 95
10. (1:34) Section 100
11. (5:52) Section 103

Recorded live at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands, January 10th, 1988.