Stubborn music

MartinWisse — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:28:30 -0800

The Canto Ostinato is a minimalist classical composition written in 1976-1979 consisting of "small, entirely tonal cells which are repeated - how many times is left to the performer". Usually performed by two or four pianos, it's also been adapted to other instruments like the harp. The Canto Ostinato ("stubborn song") was written by Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt, who passed away yesterday. Born in 1923, Simeon ten Holt studied with people like Jacob van Domselaer, Arthur Honegger and . He first came to prominence in the 1950ties with his socalled diagonal compositions, using complementary keys and tritones, then started writing more serialist compositions, all of hwich he'd largely abandoned by the early seventies, as he started to write the Canto, abandoning formalism for a more minimalist, impressionist approach. The Canto therefore has no set lenght, but can take anywhere from thirty minutes to as long as a day. A popular piece in the Netherlands, it has been performed not just in the usual concert halls, but also e.g. in Leiden train station. A "complete" version of the Canto has been uploaded to Youtube by a Dutch broadcaster. While the Canto was his best known piece, he produced several more compositions in the same style, some of which are also available on Youtube:

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Stubborn music