The Best of Minimal Piano Music Jeroen van Veen

• Philip Glass (1937):
• 1 Opening from Glassworks 08:54
• Metamorphosis:
• 2 Metamorphosis I 07:00
• 3 Metamorphosis II 06:55
• 4 Metamorphosis III 04:22
• 5 Metamorphosis IV 05:52
• 6 Metamorphosis V 06:06
• Philip Glass:
• 7 Mad Rush 15:12
• 8 The Hours 07:13
• 9 Modern Love Waltz 04:57
• 10 Truman Show 02:10
• 11 Etude XI in C Minor 08:29
• John Adams (1735 - 1926):
• 12 China Gates 05:54
• 13 Phrygian Gates 28:14
• 14 Aforisme II 04:19
• 15 Canto Ostinato, 1st Edition 25:38
• 16 The Body of Your Dreams 08:40
• 17 On & Off Situation Blues 01:53
• 18 Sound 01:06
• Yann Tiersen ( b. 1970):
• 19 Comptine d'un autre été, l'après-Midi 02:30
• 20 Le moulin 03:34
• 21 La dispute 02:13
• 22 Sur le fil 05:09
• 23 La valse d'amelie 02:35
• 24 Big my Secret 03:57
• 25 Lost and Found 03:12
• 26 The Heart Asks Pleasure First 04:18
• 27 Für Alina 18:44
• 28 Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka 05:56
• 29 Fratres 11:44
• 30 Spiegel im Spiegel 09:10
• 31 Bibo no aozora 06:36
• Erik Satie (1866 - 1925):
• 32 Gymnopédie I 04:46
• Gnossiennes:
• 33 Gnossiennes I 05:27
• 34 Gnossiennes II 02:46
• 35 Gnossiennes III 04:05
• 36 Gnossiennes IV 04:03
• Minimal Prelude:
• 37 Minimal Prelude 07:40
• 38 Minimal Prelude 18, Lego 09:33
• 39 Minimal Prelude 15 02:42
• 40 Minimal Prelude 23 07:02
• 41 Minimal Prelude 48 08:55
• 42 Minimal Prelude 50 06:26
• 43 Minimal Prelude 61 06:39
• Erik Satie:
• 44 Piano Concerto, II Movement 08:46
• Yiruma (b. 1978):
• 45 River Flows in You 03:30
• 46 May Be 03:53
• 47 Kiss the Rain 03:52
• 48 Yellow Room 03:49
• 49 Destiny of Love 03:56
• Zbigniew Preisner (b. 1955):
• 50 To See More 04:34
• 51 The Art of Flying 04:18
• 52 A Good Morning Melody 05:19
• 53 A Tune a Day 04:56
• 54 Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 04:31
• 55 The Sheltering Sky 05:12
• 56 Seven Samurai - Ending Theme 05:40
• 57 The Last Emperor II 05:44
• 58 Thousand Knives 05:56
• Max Richter (b. 1966):
• 59 Andras 04:30
• 60 H for New England 01:56
• 61 The Family 02:41
• 62 Written on the Sky II 05:18
• Ludovico Einaudi (b. 1955):
• 63 Una Mattina, Long Version 09:05
• 64 Le onde 04:47
• 65 I giorni 06:52
• 66 Primavera 07:36
• 67 Nuvuole bianche 06:33
• 68 Passaggio 05:23
• Seven Days Walking:
• 69 Seven Days Walking: I. Gravity 06:37
• 70 Seven Days Walking: II. A Sense of Symmetry 02:31
• 71 Seven Days Walking: III. Cold Wind 08:43
• 72 Seven Days Walking: IV. Low Mist 06:35
• 73 Seven Days Walking: V. The Path of the Fossils 10:05
• 74 Seven Days Walking: VI. The Tower 03:48
• Total Runtime 07:49:32

Info for The Best of Minimal Piano Music

Highlights from the award-winning, much-praised series of Brilliant Classics recordings by today’s leading champion of minimalist piano repertoire.

The journey towards simplicity so comprehensively charted by Jeroen van Veen’s discography over the past decade begins chronologically with the unique world of Erik Satie. In the quietly unique music of this ever-underrated pioneer lies the seeds of so much that was to come to fruition in the latter half of the last turbulent century. Satie belonged neither to the Impressionists nor the Modernists nor any other school, and it took John Cage and the New York modernists of the 1950s to rediscover him as more than a provocateur or a purveyor of salon trifles.

Yet, at much the same time on the other side of the Iron Curtain, Soviet-era composers were starting to chafe against both the tenets of serialism and also the requirements of the State for neo-Romantic hymns to labour and triumph. Arvo Pärt was reaching for the same destination as the American triumvirate of Adams, Glass and Reich, only from the other end of the stylistic spectrum. The English critic and composer Michael Nyman first used the term ‘Minimalism’ in print, and it stuck. The last 40 years have witnessed an explosion of popularity and wider interest in a world of music that transcends the four-bar sequences and relentless rhythms of pop, while forsaking the ivory tower of modernism, to offer music that speaks to listeners in search of quiet and stillness, music to meditate by as well as music to stir the blood.

And for the last 15 years Jeroen van Veen has recorded much of it in his home studio in the Netherlands, as well as achieving great popular success with performances much farther afield. His recordings have been acclaimed for their nuances of touch as well as their technical command of music demanding formidable reserves of precision and patience. The present collection also includes several new recordings, of Simeon ten Holt and the latest album by Lodovico Einaudi, which sold out houses around the world when the composer toured it last year. This indispensable digest of minimalist piano is the perfect starting point for a new listener but it also holds considerable attractions for seasoned collectors.

Without doubt Jeroen van Veen established himself as “The leading exponent of minimalism today” (Fanfare), “Jeroen van Veen has been a powerhouse in the piano world” (Musicweb). His numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics include works by Glass, Reich, Ten Holt, Pärt, Satie, Tiersen, Einaudi, Preisner and many others.

Based on his vast experience and all-encompassing repertoire Jeroen van Veen himself selected the best, most appealing and representative works, to form “The Best of Minimal Piano Music”: works by Philip Glass, Simeon ten Holt (Canto Ostinato!), John Adams, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Yann Tiersen, Michael Nyman, Arvo Pärt, Ryūichi Sakamoto, Erik Satie and Jeroen van Veen (yes, he is a composer is well), music suitable for multiple purposes: relaxing, working-out, background sound, meditation.

Jeroen van Veen, piano

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 The Best of Minimal Piano Music