Following on from Canto Ostinato XL earlier this year, Brilliant Classics is proud to present Canto Ostinato XXL, a recording that brings a new perspective to Simeon ten Holt’s minimalist composition by adding a Romantic organ to the work’s original scoring for four pianos – a combination never before attempted. The result is the most beautiful and harmonious of sounds, one that captures Canto Ostinato’s emotional variety and depth through building on the sweetness and simplicity that inhabit this acclaimed composition, first performed in 1979.
Canto Ostinato is all to do with time: ‘taking your time, passing time, making time,’ as Jeroen van Veen, and one of the performers on the four-disc set, explains; and this is partly effected through the artists’ decision to repeat certain of the composition’s sections (106 in total) ad lib, thus inducing a sort of alienation of the part of the listener (because of the repetition’s posterior relationship to the harmony) and creating a hypnotic effect, a regular feature of minimalist music. Recorded over the course of just one day, this four-hour arrangement slows the tempo down a little, in order to accommodate the magnificent acoustics of the Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. Joining organist Aaart Bergwerff and Brilliant Classics regulars Sandra and Jeroen van Veen, all of whom feature on XL, are the acclaimed piano duo Elizabeth and Marcel Bergmann, both experts in the minimalist genre and who also enjoy separate international careers. Jeroen van Veen chairs the Simeon ten Holt Foundation, dedicated to keeping the wonderful music of this late Dutch composer alive.
