Jeroen Van Veen

This unique 12CD set brings together nine (!) arrangements of Simeon Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato, the best-loved and most famous Dutch piano composition of the 20th century. Jeroen van Veen and friends present the work in a variety of arrangements, ranging from piano solo through multiple pianos, organ, marimbas and synthesizers, revealing many varied aspects of this deceptively simple work. Liner notes on the composer by the artist, who worked in close collaboration till the composer's 2012 death.

Piano music spanning three decades by the foremost living Minimalist composer of our time. John Adams has won listeners from far beyond the traditional classical world thanks to his energy over the course of more than half a century in writing music that speaks directly to hearts and minds with undiminished energy, reflecting contemporary concerns and technologies while also crafted with traditional finesse. As well as a composer he has been an active promoter and performer – not only of his own music but of his contemporaries and those who exercised a decisive influence on him as a student in California, including Debussy and Stravinsky. His parents wereboth jazz musicians and he grew up in a household where, as he says, ‘Benny Goodman and Mozart were not separated’.

Outstanding execution by Jeroen Van Veen with superb sound quality. Einaudi's work is difficult to categorize as he pulls classical, pop, new age and cinematic ideas into thoughtfully crafted modern pieces. Highly appealing because it's simply all very good.

Canto Ostinato, scored for four grand pianos, is the quintessential example of Ten Holt's groundbreaking minimalist style, one of his most well-known and critically-acclaimed compositions. Constructed using short cells that can be repeated an indeterminate number of times by performers, the music is hypnotic and emotionally moving, taking listeners on a journey through musical landscapes…

Simeon ten Holt is best known for his Canto Ostinato. This CD presents a live performance from 1995 of the lesser known Shadow nor prey (schaduw noch prooi) combined with Hymn to a great City by Arvo Pärt

This album pays tribute to the goddess of the night sky, Nuit, depicted on the Stele of Revealing as a woman bending over the earth with a body completely covered in stars.