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CD: The animal in 20th century
piano music Recorded in the concertgebouw CD: Anton Rubinstein CD: Le Bal, dedicated
to Sophie de Nassau, by Anton Rubinstein recorded in
muziekcentrum Vredenburg Study with Van Paassen in Enschede
See also: www.artez-conservatorium.nl
Do you want to listen? :
Anton Rubinstein with Radio symfony orchestra Should a wise man pray, the Amsterdam
recital |
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Live recording (VPRO, Dutch national
radio)
Van Paassen plays his own compositions on
a recital in
NRC Handelsblad: This very French-coloured piano
playing- on this CD named: The Amsterdam recital-
is absolutely not aggressive. (Ernst Vermeulen)
ATTACCA
1 Should a wise man pray? 5’28
2 Winter 9’30
Sonatine for a happy goat 13’30:
3 Allegretto 4’22 (1)
4 andante 4’42 (2)
5 allegretto furioso 4’26(3)
6 adagio 6.37
7 Who’s afraid of red, blues and D minor? 5’43
8 taddaa 7’11
9 Yet 6’51
10 to touch 8’57
From an interview in NRC Handelsblad (the ‘Times' of the
"When I compose, I write, so to speak, a letter to humanity. Of
course in the past many letters have been written already. Nevertheless I am
not somebody, who thinks: it has all been written. You don’t want to receive
only letters from the past, but also letters from this age?"
"The practising of my own piano pieces was quite a job. It is
awkward to combine the two parts, composer and pianist. I have a strong
inclination to play my pieces with extreme precision. Like: I have written it
all down very precisely, so I will have to play them now very precisely. Not to
much feeling in it, play the notes objectively! After some time I came in a new
phase in which the pianist in me liberated it self and I dared to interpret.
About ‘winter’ from the piano composition 'Ellipse’:
Ellipse is a composition with little melody, like processes in nature,
where people don’t play any part. With exception of the last movement, the
winter. Here we find melody, but the melody is having a hard time between
cracking ice.
About ‘Should a wise man pray?’
Although I am not a ‘New Age’-man, I do think it’s a pity that praying
hardly exists anymore in modern people. For centuries people have prayed and
praying has an undeniable beauty. To direct ones soul towards the good and to
be involved in that for some time. I hope people will think about the
disappearance of praying in those few minutes, they are listening to this
composition.
From a interview with Dutch radio (VPRO, radio 4, 17th, June,
1998):
About the ‘sonatine for a happy goat’:
"Sometimes people say of somebody: he is sort of a happy goat. That
is intended negatively. I myself am in favour of happy goats, because consider
it a clever act to be happy all the time. This sonatine is about trying to keep
ones positivity, happiness, even if that is not always so easy."
From a recital program (Singermuseum, Laren, The Netherlands):
About ‘Who is afraid of red, blues and d minor’:
"The title is referring to Barnet Newmans painting ‘Who’s afraid of
red, yellow and blue’, which was attacked by a museum visitor in the ‘Stedelijk
Museum’ in Amsterdam. It is not a humorous piece of music, neither a swing
piece. The music starts out in a sombre Sunday afternoon mood that in some
museum visitors causes apparently aggression. Afterwards the music develops a
better mood. The listener will surely not attack a painting after listening to
this music."
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