The Best of Minimal Piano Music

Composer Arvo Pärt, Ludovico Einaudi, Philip Glass
Artist Jeroen van Veen piano
Format 6 CD
Cat. number 96207
EAN code 5028421962078
Release October 2020

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About this release

Highlights from the award-winning, much-praised series of Brilliant Classics recordings by today’s leading champion of minimalist piano repertoire.

The journey towards simplicity so comprehensively charted by Jeroen van Veen’s discography over the past decade begins chronologically with the unique world of Erik Satie. In the quietly unique music of this ever-underrated pioneer lies the seeds of so much that was to come to fruition in the latter half of the last turbulent century. Satie belonged neither to the Impressionists nor the Modernists nor any other school, and it took John Cage and the New York modernists of the 1950s to rediscover him as more than a provocateur or a purveyor of salon trifles.

Yet, at much the same time on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Soviet-era composers were starting to chafe against both the tenets of serialism and also the requirements of the State for neo-Romantic hymns to labour and triumph. Arvo Pärt was reaching for the same destination as the American triumvirate of Adams, Glass and Reich, only from the other end of the stylistic spectrum. The English critic and composer Michael Nyman first used the term ‘Minimalism’ in print, and it stuck. The last 40 years have witnessed an explosion of popularity and wider interest in a world of music that transcends the four-bar sequences and relentless rhythms of pop, while forsaking the ivory tower of modernism, to offer music that speaks to listeners in search of quiet and stillness, music to meditate by as well as music to stir the blood.

And for the last 15 years Jeroen van Veen has recorded much of it in his home studio in the Netherlands, as well as achieving great popular success with performances much farther afield. His recordings have been acclaimed for their nuances of touch as well as their technical command of music demanding formidable reserves of precision and patience. The present collection also includes several new recordings, of Simeon ten Holt and the latest album by Lodovico Einaudi, which sold out houses around the world when the composer toured it last year. This indispensable digest of minimalist piano is the perfect starting point for a new listener but it also holds considerable attractions for seasoned collectors.

Without doubt Jeroen van Veen established himself as “The leading exponent of minimalism today” (Fanfare), “Jeroen van Veen has been a powerhouse in the piano world” (Musicweb). His numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics include works by Glass, Reich, Ten Holt, Pärt, Satie, Tiersen, Einaudi, Preisner and many others.
Based on his vast experience and all-encompassing repertoire Jeroen van Veen himself selected the best, most appealing and representative works, to form “The Best of Minimal Piano Music”: works by Philip Glass, Simeon ten Holt (Canto Ostinato!), John Adams, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Yann Tiersen, Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Ryūichi Sakamoto, Erik Satie and Jeroen van Veen (yes, he is a composer is well), music suitable for multiple purposes: relaxing, working-out, background sound, meditation.

Listening

Track list

Disk 1

  1. Philip Glass: Opening from Glassworks
  2. Philip Glass: Metamorphosis I
  3. Philip Glass: Metamorphosis II
  4. Philip Glass: Metamorphosis III
  5. Philip Glass: Metamorphosis IV
  6. Philip Glass: Metamorphosis V
  7. Philip Glass: Mad Rush
  8. Philip Glass: The Hours
  9. Philip Glass: Modern Love Waltz
  10. Philip Glass: Truman Show
  11. Philip Glass: Etude XI in C Minor

Disk 2

  1. John Adams: China Gates
  2. John Adams: Phrygian Gates
  3. Simeon ten Holt: Aforisme II
  4. Simeon ten Holt: Canto Ostinato, 1st Edition
  5. Jacob ter Veldhuis: The Body of Your Dreams
  6. Jacob ter Veldhuis: On & Off Situation Blues
  7. Jacob ter Veldhuis: Sound

Disk 3

  1. Yann Tiersen: Comptine d’un autre été, l’après-midi
  2. Yann Tiersen: Le moulin
  3. Yann Tiersen: La dispute
  4. Yann Tiersen: Sur le fil
  5. Yann Tiersen: La valse d’Amelie
  6. Michael Nyman: Big my Secret
  7. Michael Nyman: Lost and Found
  8. Michael Nyman: The Heart Asks Pleasure First
  9. Arvo Pärt: Für Alina
  10. Arvo Pärt: Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka
  11. Arvo Pärt: Fratres
  12. Arvo Pärt: Spiegel im Spiegel
  13. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Bibo no aozora

Disk 4

  1. Erik Satie: Gymnopédie I
  2. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes I
  3. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes II
  4. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes III
  5. Erik Satie: Gnossiennes IV
  6. Erik Satie: Minimal Prelude
  7. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 18, Lego
  8. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 15
  9. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 23
  10. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 48
  11. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 50
  12. Jeroen van Veen: Minimal Prelude 61
  13. Jeroen van Veen: Piano concerto, II Movement

Disk 5

  1. Yiruma: River Flows in You
  2. Yiruma: May Be
  3. Yiruma: Kiss the Rain
  4. Yiruma: Yellow Room
  5. Yiruma: Destiny of Love
  6. Zbigniew Preisner: To See More
  7. Zbigniew Preisner: The Art of Flying
  8. Zbigniew Preisner: A Good Morning Melody
  9. Zbigniew Preisner: A Tune a Day
  10. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
  11. Ryuichi Sakamoto: The Sheltering Sky
  12. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Seven Samurai - Ending Theme
  13. Ryuichi Sakamoto: The Last Emperor II
  14. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Thousand Knives
  15. Max Richter: Andras
  16. Max Richter: H for New England
  17. Max Richter: The Family
  18. Max Richter: Written On The Sky II

Disk 6

  1. Ludovico Einaudi: Una Mattina, Long Version
  2. Ludovico Einaudi: Le onde
  3. Ludovico Einaudi: I giorni
  4. Ludovico Einaudi: Primavera
  5. Ludovico Einaudi: Nuvuole bianche
  6. Ludovico Einaudi: Passaggio
  7. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: I. Gravity
  8. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: II. A Sense of Symmetry
  9. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: III. Cold Wind
  10. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: IV. Low Mist
  11. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: V. The Path of the Fossils
  12. Ludovico Einaudi: Seven Days Walking: VI. The Tower