Canto Ostinato by Piano Duo Scholtes & Janssens

Simeon ten Holt

Piano Duo Scholtes & Janssens

Canto Ostinato

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917298727
Catnr: CC 72987
Release date: 03 May 2024
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917298727

Catalogue number
CC 72987

Release date
03 May 2024

"On this new recording, the tempo—unvaried throughout the work's entire length—is reasonable, and to prevent monotony from setting in, and also to feed the dramatic ebb and flow, the performers make smart and imaginative choices. At its best, Canto Ostinato contains passages that can be as terrifying as a frantic chase down a dark alley and as imposing as a thundering cathedral organ. Scholtes and Janssens are up to the challenge, and while they do not set a new performance standard for this work they affirm, with their masterly playing, standards that already have been set, and then raise those standards to a higher level yet."

Fanfare Magazine, 01-9-2024

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

In 1963, he wrote in his diary that he had it in mind that a concert should be an ongoing performance, with visitors wandering in and out at will. Ten Holt was also fascinated by social processes during these highly formative years. He became interested in time and space. This theme manifested itself in a piece for four keyboards, at the time still entitled Perpetuum. He embarked on this on 19 January 1973. Perpetuum was completed in 1976 but was revised in the period 1976-79 and was then renamed Canto Ostinato. During rehearsals for the premiere, in April 1979, all of the themes that had been occupying Ten Holt seemed to coalesce: small elements that together made up a larger whole; a different form of concert; social processes arising from the freedom that the players had to decide on the number of repetitions; and time and space. Ten Holt never consciously went searching for this form, but when Canto Ostinato began to conquer the musical world it became clear that his solitary quest had drawn something universal from the mists, something that many listeners and musicians would recognise.

Op dit album presenteert het toonaangevende pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens een van de mijlpalen van het Europese minimalisme: Canto Ostinato van de Nederlandse componist Simeon ten Holt. Scholtes & Janssens kozen voor een live-opname, de meest oprechte en intieme manier om deze muziek op te nemen en de tijdloze schoonheid ervan te ervaren. Met hun virtuoze spel hebben de twee pianisten er een adembenemende opname van gemaakt.

Menahem Pressler, de legendarische pianist die in 2023 op 99-jarige leeftijd overleed zei over het duo Scholtes & Janssens: “Als je deze twee jonge mensen muziek hoort spelen, denk je dat alles in de wereld goed komt.” Pressler trad regelmatig op in het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, onder meer als pianist van het in 1955 door hem opgerichte wereldberoemde Beaux Arts Trio.

In 2020, 17 jaar na de oprichting van hun pianoduo, kwamen de pianisten Lestari Scholtes en Gwylim Janssens voor het eerst in aanraking met Simeon ten Holts Canto Ostinato. "Middenin de coronalockdowns realiseerden we ons dat we behoefte hadden aan een andere focus. Een focus op vorm en klankvelden en het creëren van muziek 'in het moment'. Canto Ostinato gaf ons dat, een fascinerende wereld waarin publiek, omgeving en sfeer een grote rol spelen", aldus het duo.

Dat gevoel resulteerde in hun nieuwe album 'Canto Ostinato', mede ter ere van het 50-jarig jubileum van dit iconische werk van Simeon ten Holt. Deze compositie, die wereldwijd beroemd is om zijn hypnotiserende klanken, blijft een tijdloos en betoverend meesterwerk. Een mijlpaal die getuigt van de blijvende invloed op generaties luisteraars die geraakt worden door de harmonieën en minimalistische repetitieve structuren, die zo kenmerkend zijn voor Ten Holts unieke stijl. ‘Canto Ostinato’ is het tweede album dat het pianoduo Scholtes & Janssens uitbrengt bij Challenge Records International.

Al in 1963 schreef Simeon ten Holt in zijn dagboek dat hij voor ogen had dat een concert een doorlopende voorstelling moest zijn, waarbij bezoekers naar believen in en uit liepen. Hij was gefascineerd door sociale processen en raakte geïnteresseerd in tijd en ruimte. Canto Ostinato ging in première in april 1979. In het stuk leken alle thema's die Ten Holt bezighielden samen te smelten: kleine elementen samen een groter geheel vormend, een andere concertvorm, sociale processen voortkomend uit de vrijheid van de spelers om zelf te beslissen over het aantal herhalingen en tijd en ruimte. Toen Canto Ostinato de muzikale wereld veroverde werd duidelijk dat uit Ten Holts eenzame zoektocht iets universeels was voorgekomen, iets wat menig luisteraar en menig musicus zou herkennen.

Lestari Scholtes (1984) en Gwylim Janssens (1985) vormen sinds 2003 een pianoduo. Ze worden gezien als een van de meest vooraanstaande pianoduo’s van hun generatie. Over hun debuut in Carnegie Hall in mei 2009 schreef de pers: “het hadden net zo goed 25 of 30 vingers kunnen zijn, zo groots en samengesmolten was hun klank. Subliem duo in topvorm”.
Het duo dat wereldwijd optreedt won nationale en internationale concoursen voor pianoduo en kamermuziek, o.a. het prestigieuze Vriendenkrans Concours van het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, IBLA Grand Prize, Concours Musical de France en het Internationaal Kamermuziekconcours Almere. Radio4 riep het duo uit tot Talent van het Jaar 2010. Lestari en Gwylim richtten in 2013 het Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam op, één van de toonaangevende festivals ter wereld voor pianoduo's. Sinds 2016 organiseert het duo ook het jaarlijkse Kamermuziekfestival Schoorl in het Pinksterweekeind.

1963 schrieb er in sein Tagebuch, dass er sich ein Konzert als eine fortlaufende Aufführung vorstellte, bei der die Besucher nach Belieben ein- und ausgehen konnten. Ten Holt war in diesen sehr prägenden Jahren auch von sozialen Prozessen fasziniert. Er begann sich für Zeit und Raum zu interessieren. Dieses Thema manifestierte sich in einem Stück für vier Tasteninstrumente, das damals noch den Titel Perpetuum trug. Er begann am 19. Januar 1973 mit der Arbeit an diesem Werk. Perpetuum wurde 1976 fertiggestellt, aber in den Jahren 1976-79 überarbeitet und in Canto Ostinato umbenannt. Während der Proben für die Uraufführung im April 1979 schienen sich alle Themen, die Ten Holt beschäftigt hatten, zusammenzufügen: kleine Elemente, die zusammen ein größeres Ganzes bildeten; eine andere Form des Konzerts; soziale Prozesse, die sich aus der Freiheit der Spieler ergaben, über die Anzahl der Wiederholungen zu entscheiden; sowie Zeit und Raum. Ten Holt war nie bewusst auf der Suche nach dieser Form, aber als Canto Ostinato begann, die Musikwelt zu erobern, wurde klar, dass seine einsame Suche etwas Universelles aus den Nebeln gezogen hatte, etwas, das viele Zuhörer und Musiker wiedererkennen würden.

Artist(s)

Lestari Scholtes (piano)

'If you listen to these two young people play music, you think that everything in the world will be all right' - Menachem Pressler, Beaux Arts Trio. “They were absolutely fantastic! I was so impressed, what a phenomenal duo, bravo.” – Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Lestari Scholtes (1984) and Gwylim Janssens (1985) formed their piano duo in 2003. They are acclaimed as one of the most valued piano duos of their generation, and leading piano duo from the Netherlands. Their 2009 Carnegie Hall debut was praised as ‘it could well have been 25 or 30 fingers, so big and well integrated was the sound. Terrific duo in top form'. In May 2012 Lestari & Gwylim returned to Carnegie Hall receiving great critics by audience and press....

"If you listen to these two young people play music, you think that everything in the world will be all right" - Menachem Pressler, Beaux Arts Trio.
“They were absolutely fantastic! I was so impressed, what a phenomenal duo, bravo.” – Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Lestari Scholtes (1984) and Gwylim Janssens (1985) formed their piano duo in 2003. They are acclaimed as one of the most valued piano duos of their generation, and leading piano duo from the Netherlands. Their 2009 Carnegie Hall debut was praised as ‘it could well have been 25 or 30 fingers, so big and well integrated was the sound. Terrific duo in top form'. In May 2012 Lestari & Gwylim returned to Carnegie Hall receiving great critics by audience and press. The American press about their performance of Stravinsky’s Petrushka: “Superb teamwork – two as one – with excellent, turn-on-a-dime transitions between episodes”.
Scholtes & Janssens performed extensively in over 30 countries, among which in many European countries, the USA, Netherlands Antilles, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Chile, Bolivia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, China and Japan. Their performances have been broadcast by radio and television in multiple countries, among others Dutch Radio4, BBC3, Belgian Klara Radio and Israeli Kol Hamusica. Festivals include e.g. the Festival of Bath, TonLagen-Dresdner Festival der zeitgenössischen Musik, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Braunlage Maikonzerte, Basilica Festival of Flanders, Klevische Klaviersommer, Almere Chamber Music Festival, Festival Classique The Hague, Tengiz Amirejibi International Music Festival and the International Piano Duo Festival Poland. The duo performed with many orchestras, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Residence Orchestra, Brabants Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam and re:orchestra.
The duo won national and international competitions for piano duo and chamber music, among others the prestigious Vriendenkrans Competition of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, IBLA Grand Prize, Concours Musical de France, the International Chamber Music Competition Almere, etc. and was acclaimed Talent of the Year 2010 by Dutch national Radio4. Lestari and Gwylim are jury members at several (inter)national competition. They gave master classes at conservatoires and music academies all over the world.
In 2013, the duo founded the Pianoduo Festival Amsterdam, one of the leading festivals in the world solely dedicated to the genre of piano duo. The festival, still run artistically and produced by the duo, takes place in the historic city center of Amsterdam. Since 2016, the duo hosts a second festival, the annual Kamermuziek Festival Schoorl (Schoorl Chamber Music Festival) in the north-west of The Netherlands.
As a duo they studied with the piano duo Sivan Silver & Gil Garburg at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover, Germany. As a soloist, Lestari studied with Jan Wijn at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Gwylim studied at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam with Bart van de Roer. The duo met in the Young Talent Department of the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg where they both studied under tutorage of Ton Demmers. Together they have taken many master classes with e.g. Nikolai Petrov, Alexander Tamir, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Victor Derevianko, Alon Goldstein, Peter Takács, Paul Lewis and Menahem Pressler. In November 2010 they released their debut CD with works by Rachmaninoff, Debussy and Ravel, under the label of QuattroLive. In May 2014 their second cd ‘Paris!’ was released at Etcetera Records, receiving great critics by press and audience. Their third cd is planned for release in the beginning 2021 with Challenge Records International.

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Gwylim Janssens (piano)

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Composer(s)

Simeon ten Holt

Composer and pianist Simeon ten Holt was born in Bergen, the Netherlands, in 1923. He studied piano and theory with Jakob van Domselaer, whose influence is considerable, as shown from his first compositions.
In 1968 Ten Holt founded the Werkgroep Bergen Hedendaagse Muziek (Working Group Contemporary Music Bergen). For this working group he organized concerts solely devoted to contemporary music.
Ten Holt's considerable oeuvre can be divided into three periods. During the first period, he developed his own method to come to terms with the concepts of tonality and atonality in reaction to the tonal influence of Van Domselaer. This method, the diagonal idea, resulted in the compositions Diagonaalsuite (1957), Diagonaalsonate (1959) and Diagonaalmuziek (1956-1958).
In his second period, from 1961 to 1970, he became influenced by serialism, and he also eventually writes a number of electronic works.
In the third period, which began in the seventies, Ten Holt returned to the piano, the instrument with which his career as a composer started. The major composition of this period, Canto Ostinato, became a great success. He subsequently wrote more piano pieces that are based on the same ideas of repetition and tonality, such as Lemniscaat (1983), Horizon (1985) and Méandres (1999).
Ten Holt passed away in 2012.

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Press

On this new recording, the tempo—unvaried throughout the work's entire length—is reasonable, and to prevent monotony from setting in, and also to feed the dramatic ebb and flow, the performers make smart and imaginative choices. At its best, Canto Ostinato contains passages that can be as terrifying as a frantic chase down a dark alley and as imposing as a thundering cathedral organ. Scholtes and Janssens are up to the challenge, and while they do not set a new performance standard for this work they affirm, with their masterly playing, standards that already have been set, and then raise those standards to a higher level yet.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-9-2024

At a time when the world of classical music continues to innovate, this Canto Ostinato can withstand the test of time. Piano duo Scholtes & Janssens have paid tribute to this special work with their recording, and it is up to the listener to surrender to its hypnotic power. Or its energizing power.
Hageland Klassiek, 01-4-2024