composer
Rieteke Hölscher (1969) studied piano classical music and jazz / pop at the conservatory of the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (1987-1992) with Frans van Dalen and Tine Schneider, also ...
related works
Eigen-wijsje Nº 2 (Wildlife) : for piano / Rieteke Hölscher
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano
Scoring:
pf
Second nature : for piano four hands, 2000 / Vanessa Lann
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano 4 hands
Scoring:
pf4h
Sonate biblique : pour la fête de Noël, piano à 4-mains / Marius Monnikendam
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano 4 hands
Scoring:
pf4h
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano; Piano 4 hands
Scoring:
pf
composition
Four Double Dutch Dances : for piano four hands / Rieteke Hölscher
Contains:
Touwtjespringen - Double Dutch (c. 2')
Hinkelen - Hopscotch (c. 3')
Vliegeren - Kite-Flying (c. 2'30'')
Haasje-over - Monkey in the Middle (c.2'30'')
Description:
These four dances are inspired by old Dutch children's games that are still played in the schoolyard today. I felt the world could use some joy these days.
Double Dutch is (among other things) also a style of jump-rope, where two ropes are moved counter to one another. One person stands on each end of the whirling rope-complex, and a third person jumps in the middle of them. Double Dutch requires significantly more concentration than standard jump roping. Hopscotch and Kite-Flying speak for themselves, where at the end of Kite-Flying the kite seems to disappear in the sky.
For the fourth dance I couldn't really choose what I liked more: playing 'Leapfrog' where children jump over each other, or 'Monkey in the Middle', where a group of children tosses a ball and someone in the middle tries to catch it. So I chose both (alternately in English and Dutch) and put an 'or' sign in the title.
The dances are full of changing rhythms and complex polymetric passages to catch the playing character of the pieces. Pleasant sounds are alternated with clashing dissonance, which shows that games are also about ups and downs (trial and error) and sometimes things go wrong.
Rieteke Hölscher, April 2022