Louis Andriessen
Fanfare for the beginning and the end of the 24Preludia project of Frederique Lucanet (nowadays Jacqueline voorheen Frederique, JvhF).
Caroline Ansink
It seemed a nice challenge to see in how far I could manage my own musical language, if the number Pi would determine the pitch, the rhythm and the harmony. The result is certainly Bach-like, although musical history, insofar it presented itself to us, is very noticable in it. For fun I added a Bachish repeat but timewise -like many other repeats- it probably will have the same fate.
The subtitle of the Sdamse Plude is ‘tribute to Ton Koopman’, whom as a harpsichordist and organ player dedicated most part of his live to Bach. For the good listener and the Koopman fans the title is revealing but also refers to the limited resources that are available for the Dutch classical music in the last years.
Jacques Bank
In the original g-minor-prelude of Bach all 12 tones of the chromatic scale are used. In my prelude, also g minor, one is missing: the c sharp. To use that note very poignantly in the end I make up for that. Therewith I am faithfull to one of the groundrules of the twelvetonemusic, just like Bach. Who would have thought it?
Gijs van Dijk
“I like b flat minor, a good key with lots of flats. Much nicer than for instance G major. She asked for a short-easy-accessable-piece with here and there some vocals for more joy”.
Loek Dikker
The South Side is situated in Chicago, USA. In the twenties of the past century the blues and the boogiewoogie came to flourish in this area. The left hand is the fast train of the dance music, music halls full of joyful dancing people. On Ground Zero, New York, there will never be joy ever more. That frustration is very distinguishable in this piece, that is composed in response to 9/11 for the citizens of New York. Loek Dikker himself established a big reputation as a jazz-pianist and film composer.
Oene van Geel
Assuming to start from the Bach’s prelude, the music I wrote more and more curled up in the direction of ‘In a landscape’ by John Cage. A small miniature with a few clear idea’s, that’s what it is.
Jeff Hamburg
Spirits in G (2018) There are spirits all around us. Usually we do not notice them. We have to take our time and open our eyes and ears to notice them. Sometimes we can discern spirits when all of the noise settles. This piece is written for Frederique Lucanet and dedicated to my mother, Jeannine, who is celebrating her 90th birthday.
Willem Jeths
Chiaroscuro is about dark and light/clair-obscur. This effect is translated to the piano. Several episodes that gradually slow down and finally solidify into the overtones.
Kristjan Martinsson
The composition Bron by Kristján Martinsson is in F # major which is the fascinating opposite of C major. The common thread trough the piece is an ostinato in seconds on the weak beats of the bar. Kristján has chosen to have the “well-known” C major appear in his composition, so that the opposite pole F # major stands out even more.
Roderik de Man
Frederique asked me to choose a key for the Prelude and I fell for d minor. That is where the piece starts, but soon it scatters in all directions, but it’ll turn out all right in the end.
Michael Moore
Bach wrote preludes in all keys of the cirkel of fifths starting with C. In Divergence Michael Moore starts with both hands in D major, they take off in opposite directions to finally meet in A flat major. But then…
Reza Namavar
This prelude is a French overture. It is based on the same chords all the time, and tries to get started but seems to fail. Only towards the end there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Maarten van Norden
A Bachish motive, almost an invention, is gradually infiltrated by a contemporary funky motive. At first they are independent, but at the end, even cooperation seems possible.
Christina Viola Oorebeek
In the wake of the last sounds of the Prelude in B major, processions of chords move slowly upwards. The last ascension is anchored by a somewhat disorienting bass note on C sharp – an arrow aimed at a new starting point.
Ab Sandbrink
translation coming soon
Allan Segall
Inspiration for the Prelude in E minor is number X of J.S. Bach’s Book One of Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. In my hands the soft and flowing accompaniment becomes jazzy and asymmetric. The soundscape of my Prelude in E minor – dry and metronymical – is derived from Glenn Gould’s Bach-playing.
Pieter Smithuijsen
I have no affinity with astrology except for now: Bach and I are both born on the 21st of May. Bach is an ‘Old Fish’(12th sign) and I am A ‘Young Ram’ (1st sign). The prelude in E flat major of Bach is the longest of all, very calm, flowing, well-balanced and polyphonic. As a contrast ‘Miebe Mol’ (the name is derived from the French Mi Bémol, meaning E flat major), jumpy, complicated rhythms, with an air of improvisation.
Joost van Son
When the key of C major is on the composer’s desk, thoughts of clarity and accessibility rise. Children’s songs and etudes. Subconsequently working with this the threat of dullness, and lack of here-and-now appear: this is not original. In this Prelude of C Major I tried to make both ends meet. Childlike simplicity and modern adventure in hardly 70 bars.
Boudewijn Tarenskeen
A girl with love sickness excercises Bach faithfully.
Lorre Trytten
The F minor Prelude from the second part of the Well-tempered Clavier is one of my favorite pieces. I hear nostalgia. I hear a search for the resolution of a problem: a conversation between—who and whom? The composer and God? Present and past? The ever-delayed cadences make me think of a tango, the dance that exudes nostalgia despite its energetic rhythm, the dance which seeks—sometimes desperately—to resolve a problem. In my tango you might hear a conversation between the left and right hand. Or is it between pianist and audience? Composer and pianist? Present and past?
Calliop Tsoupaki
“Hear me” is a C sharp obsessed prelude with a tender middle part and an ending in between rock and early music. I composed it in such a way that the piece unfolds as if it is “talking” to us.
Heleen Verleur
In this rhythmic, swinging piece the ‘groove’ can be heard well, and it just doesn’t turn into a boogie woogie, but rubs against it. Clapping, stamping, improvising: it all can happen. In the middle of this composition you can hear the same rhythmic theme from the start, but then slowly and stretched out, and it suddenly changes the atmosphere into a ‘Gershwinnish bluesy’ theme. In the end this slow part flows out in a shred of a boogie: it ends as ‘high energy’ as it started. ‘Groovy Prelude’ is a pianistic piece: the fast passages have been nicely spread over two hands and the grips are comfortable for piano. The composition is not specifically tonal, but ends, like the 24th composition, on an a-flat equals g-sharp chord.
Sinta Wullur
Coming from Indonesia myself I tried to make Bach’s Preludes in D sound like the Javanese gamelan orchestra. Using the same notes but sometimes with different accents, stretched out, shranked, doubled, but always with the gamelan formulas.