Live recording (VPRO,
Dutch national radio)
Van Paassen plays his own compositions on a recital in
Amsterdam with a live audience.
ATTACCA BABEL 9987 DDD
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 Netherlands) 14th, April, 1998
"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."