Richter: Solo Piano Music played by Jeroen van Veen Jeroen van Veen

• Max Richter (1966):
• 1Andras04:51
• 2The Blue Notebooks01:21
• 3Circles from the rue Simon-Crubellier01:10
• 4Departure01:41
• 5The Family02:48
• 6Fragment01:56
• 7From the rue Villin01:30
• 8H in New England02:18
• 9Horizon Variations02:17
• 10Infra 303:32
• 11Leo's Journal01:53
• 12The Tartu Piano02:27
• 13The Twins02:42
• 14Vladimir's Blues02:02
• 15Written on the Sky I02:37
• 16Horizon Variations II03:20
• 17Waltz with Bashir Reflection01:42
• 18Written on the Sky II05:25
• Total Runtime45:32

Info for Richter: Solo Piano Music played by Jeroen van Veen

Having made a gradual switch during the 15 years since his first album was published from electronica to instrumental variations on ambient and minimalism, Max Richter is among the most commercially successful composers of our time. This album of his solo piano music belongs in the genre explored so thoroughly for Brilliant Classics by Jeroen van Veen, whose prolific recording history includes hugely popular albums of Philip Glass (BC9419) and Michael Nyman (BC95112), Ludovico Einaudi (BC94910) and Yann Tiersen (BC95129) and his fellow Dutch musician Jakob ter Veldhuis (BC94873) and himself (BC9454). The appetite for slowly moving, unchallenging, post-Minimalist music is apparently infinite, and so this new album is sure to be a success.

Born in 1966, Richter has in the last few years achieved international fame with his recomposed version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which topped the iTunes chart in the UK, the US and Germany. Then last year, came the record-breaking Sleep, an ‘eight-hour cradle song’ which like the Vivaldi mixed live and pre-recorded, electronic and acoustic sounds, to induce and accompany deep slumber.

The songs on this album are all shorter, though sharing the somnambulistic mood of Sleep. Vladimir's Blues featured on a BBC documentary series about the deep sea, while The Twins (Prague) was used in a series on Auschwitz, The Nazis and the Final Solution. As Richter’s own programme notes explain, the music is for beginners, based on classical Alberti-style bass figures.

Several tracks derive from his albums The Blue Notebooks and Songs from Before; H in New England is extracted from the incidental music written by Richter for the film Henry May Long.

Max Richter (born in 1966) is one of the most influential composers of his generation. Electro-acoustic polymath Max Richter defies definition: composer, pianist, producer, remixer, and collaborator, and beyond argument one of the most prolific of contemporary musical artists. Inspired equally by Bach, punk rock and ambient electronica, Richter’s sonic world blends a formal classical training (he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, and was a pupil of renowned composer Luciano Berio) with modern technology.

This new recording presents Richter’s solo piano music up to date. Dutchman Jeroen van Veen is one of the leading pianists of today focusing on Minimalism and championing a new generation of composers, easily crossing borders between musical styles.

Jeroen van Veen,

Jeroen Van Veen
born 1969 started playing the piano at the age of 7. He studied at the Utrecht Conservatory with Alwin Bär and Håkon Austbö. In 1993 he passed the Performing Artists' Exam. Van Veen has played with orchestras conducted by Howard Williams, Peter Eötvös, Neal Stulberg and Robert Craft. He has played recitals in Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia & the USA. Van Veen attended master classes with Claude Helffer, Hans-Peter & Volker Stenzl and Roberto Szidon. He was invited to several festivals; Reder Piano Festival (1988), Festival der Kunsten in Bad Gleichenberg (1992), Wien Modern (1993), Holland Dance Festival (1998) Lek Art Festival (1996-2007). Van Veen recorded for major Dutch Radio- and Television companies like AVRO, NOS, IKON, NCRV, TROS/Internet, WTBC-TV & Radio (Florida, U.S.A.) and Moscow Television. In 1992, Van Veen recorded his first CD with his brother Maarten as the internationally recognized Piano duo Van Veen. In 1995 Piano duo Van Veen made their debut in the United States. They were prizewinners in the prestigious 4th International Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition in Miami, Florida. After this achievement they toured the United States and Canada many times. The documentary "Two Pianos One Passion" (nominated with an Emmy Award 1996) documents them as a duo.

In 1995 Jeroen Van Veen founded the duo Sandra & Jeroen van Veen, a piano duo with Sandra Mol. As such, they mainly perform (minimal) music for multiple pianos by Erik Satie, Douwe Eisenga, Simeon ten Holt and many more. Beside his career as a solo pianist Van Veen also participates in the following ensembles: ‘Piano Ensemble’, ‘The International Piano Quartet’, ‘Piano Mania’, ‘DJ Piano’ and ‘Jeroen van Veen & Friends’.

The various (>80) compositions by Van Veen may be described as ‘Minimal Music’ with different faces, Crossovers to Jazz, Blues, Soundscape, Avant-Garde, Techno, Trance and Pop Music. Currently Mr. Van Veen is director of Van Veen Productions, Chairman of the Simeon ten Holt Foundation, Culemborg Cultural Foundation, Pianomania Foundation and artistic director of several music festivals in Culemborg, Utrecht and Veldhoven. He is active in Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition based in Miami (USA). Over the last 20 years Van Veen recorded more than 100 CDs for several labels Mirasound, Koch, Naxos, Brilliant Classics, and his own label PIANO. The recording of Les Noces for Koch and Naxos was stated in the New York Times as " the best recording ever". Classics Today on Erik Satie pianoworks four hands, 10 artistic quality, 10 sound quality.

Booklet for Richter: Solo Piano Music played by Jeroen van Veen