Ton de Leeuw - Choral Works

In my quest for Dutch composers unknown to me, and there are many, I had to come across Ton de Leeuw sooner or later. Three names stand out among representatives of my country’s post-war music generation: Louis Andriessen, Peter Schat and last but not least, Ton de Leeuw.
Probably the most intellectual of the three (which is not to say Andriessen and Schat were illiterate), de Leeuw tried to apply Eastern philosophy and ethics – not just aesthetics! – to the techniques of Western music. According to him, music is what it is and does not need to strive for beauty or brilliancy; good music should become a fundamental part of one’s being. Good music, then, expresses the performing artist’s capacity to totally immerse himself in his art. Well, that’s an intricate definition of what I would translate as, “good music has Soul”….

You’ll search in vain for anything resembling the more or less authentic Asian tunes you hear when having chop suey in a Chinese restaurant. De Leeuw’s music does not in the least sound like that. I’m afraid I’m not enough the musicologist to explain what technical aspects exactly define this music as East-related. Somewhere in the booklet it says the secret lies in “modality”. Which is a term I didn’t understand at the time I read about Miles Davis’ s Birth of the Cool either.
Ton de Leeuw often took his inspiration from ancient philosophical or literary texts. For example, the second composition on this album (A cette heur du jour) uses the words of a Sumerian tale; so, does it sound Eastern? Well…it sounds very old and new at the same time. The composer achieved a highly peculiar melange of widely different genres such as Gregorian, Renaissance polyphonics and modern idioms here. Yet, it doesn’t strike the listener as contrived, strained or uneasy; there’s perfect unity.

“Car nos vignes sont en fleur”, the fourth track, is without a doubt the highlight of the album. It was not for nothing De Leeuw received an award for this tour de force. Stunningly original singing here, the utterly un-Dutch (fill in whatever nation’s) strangeness of the melodies and rhythms mesmerizingly beautiful; and one pities the performers who had to get this devilishly complex piece into their heads.
I can say I’ve never heard anything like it. I’m glad I found it. Makes me a little bit proud of my countrymen.

Note: as so often, I ordered this one from the library. Usually I do a pretty good job restoring coverart with labels and stickers all over, but I’m powerless when idiots tear out a good eight pages from booklets. It makes me wonder what some people do with a cd which isn’t theirs in the first place, apart from wiping the floor with it, grrr. So, unfortunately, there’s only an English translation describing the works – but no songtexts. These weren’t there anymore.

Performers: The Netherlands Chamber Choir, Ed Spanjaard

Tracks

1. Priere
2. A cette heure du jour
3. Cloudy forms
4. Car nos vignes sont en fleur
5-8 Transparence I, II, III, IV