composer
The music of Peter-Jan Wagemans is typical of the Rotterdam School, together with that of Otto Ketting and Klaas de Vries. In an interview with Emile Wennekes, Wagemans described the ...
related works
24 capriccio's voor viool solo
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Violin
Instruments:
vl
Azzurro : for piano / Paul Termos
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano
Instruments:
pf
Regressus : voor piano, 1985 / Ludwig Otten
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano
Instruments:
pf
Eigen-wijsje Nº 1 (Lifestream) : for piano / Rieteke Hölscher
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano
Instruments:
pf
composition
Concerto for 2 pianos : 1993, revision 1997 / Peter-Jan Wagemans
Contains:
Leggiero, scorrevole
Cantando
Description:
Program note (English): The Concerto was originally intended to be part of six concerti in an ever changing chamber music instrumentation. The idea behind this was to accompany each of the six concerti by a J.S. Bach Preludium with its intrinsic theological content as a motto. It demanded, however, so much effort to assemble performers as well as places to perform that I had to give up the idea of a complete cycle. The Concerto for 2 pianos uses the chorale prelude 'Durch Adams Fall ist ganz Verderb' as a foundation. In the first movement, the bass line of the chorale, representing the fall from grace, is quoted several times, accompanied by cackling mockery in descending line. The first movement is multifaced with references to baroque music, jazz, and Gregorian chant. Working on this movement also made me think of Humpty Dumpty, the conceited egg from Alice in Wonderland. In the middle of the first movement, I have him perform a cosmic dance just before his great fall. The second movement uses a
long melodic line as point of departure, interrupted by bell like sounds (black church-bells). The chorale melody from 'Durch Adams Fall' functions as the second theme, but with chromatic alterations. The work ends with a lengthy retrograde canon, attacked by the bells. But the bells have now been transformed into lighter diatonic sounds: the white bells. The piece ends with a carillon: it's Easter. These notes should not be interpreted as a sign of a believer: I doubt virtually everything. Instead, they are memories of Easter that I carry with me since my youth, of the profound emotion that overcame me on Easter morning as all of the city's church bells simultaneously began to bell. - P.-J. WAGEMANS