Wim Van Drongelen

There's perhaps a touch of irony in the title of Dutch pianist and composer Jeroen van Veen's box set Minimal Piano Collection because at nine discs, it's a pretty massive collection. The program booklet notes that he recorded the entire set, which includes more than ten hours of music, in only six days, an astounding feat. In the program notes, van Veen offers a remarkably clear and concise history of minimalism in music. He defines it broadly enough (following the lead of composer and critic Tom Johnson) to include works by Friedrich Nietzsche and Satie. Philip Glass is the composer most widely represented, with three of the set's nine CDs devoted to his music originally for piano, as well as transcriptions from his film scores and operas. Two discs are given to van Veen's mammoth 24 Préludes, organized according to the framework of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Other composers range from the very well known, such as Michael Nyman, John Adams, Terry Riley, Arvo Pärt, and John Cage, to the familiar-to-specialists, like Tom Johnson, Wim Mertens, and Jacob ter Veldhuis, to those little-known to American audiences, like Klaas de Vries, Simeon ten Holt, John Borstlap, Yann Tiersen, and Carlos Micháns.

The cycle of 125 variations that Costanzo Festa composed on the famous melody called La Spagna is conceived on a scale unique during the Renaissance, and may justly be described as a compositional tour-de-force. It has been comparisons to works such as Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations. This budget priced reissue, released for the first time in 2003, features a selection of these variations performed by the Huelgas-Ensemble.

40 years of creations, 61 compositions, 300 minutes of music (5 hours), 12 tracks never released before. 4 new compositions: European Grasses, for grand ensemble of 19 musicians; Novel, Wim Mertens plays the harmonium for the first time; Sprachresten, commissioned by the city of Bruges for the 500th anniversary of its famous Carillon; Under Erasure, for harps, played by Anneleen Lenaerts. 8 Wim Mertens hits revisited in live versions: Maximizing the Audience; The Belly; Lyr; Watch!; Not at Home; Humility and Bassin d’Attraction; One Breath.

40 years of creations, 61 compositions, 300 minutes of music (5 hours), 12 tracks never released before. 4 new compositions: European Grasses, for grand ensemble of 19 musicians; Novel, Wim Mertens plays the harmonium for the first time; Sprachresten, commissioned by the city of Bruges for the 500th anniversary of its famous Carillon; Under Erasure, for harps, played by Anneleen Lenaerts. 8 Wim Mertens hits revisited in live versions: Maximizing the Audience; The Belly; Lyr; Watch!; Not at Home; Humility and Bassin d’Attraction; One Breath.

40 years of creations, 61 compositions, 300 minutes of music (5 hours), 12 tracks never released before. 4 new compositions: European Grasses, for grand ensemble of 19 musicians; Novel, Wim Mertens plays the harmonium for the first time; Sprachresten, commissioned by the city of Bruges for the 500th anniversary of its famous Carillon; Under Erasure, for harps, played by Anneleen Lenaerts. 8 Wim Mertens hits revisited in live versions: Maximizing the Audience; The Belly; Lyr; Watch!; Not at Home; Humility and Bassin d’Attraction; One Breath.