Incantatie IV

Simeon ten Holt

• Players: Sandra & Jeroen van Veen, pianoduo en Tamara Rumiantsev, piano
• Duration: undefinite
• Pianos: 3

For keyboard (and other) instruments 1987-1990

Incantatie IV is a melodious and orchestrally repetitive piece for several keyboard instruments. Left free by the composer on certain aspects of the composition, like timbre and pitch, style of play and tempo, number of voices or instruments, and number of times certain parts are repeated, the final form is decided upon on stage by the performers.. The length of the composition is undetermined. This music exists in a grey area between composed and improvised music. Ten Holt comments: "Although there is a score with prescribed notes, the performer can still decide when these notes will turn into sound. Where notes appaer there might be a silence, on the other hand the score might show no notes, and yet there can be sound." The composition is divided into seven sections, uninterruptedly flowing into each other. Jeroen van Veen says: "The music sounds as if looking at the sea for a long time; the waves, the rays of sunshine and the air all influence the glittering and different colours of the sea. Characteristic for this spectrum of changing possibilities is continuous motion like a perpetuum mobile." This composition can therefore be regarded as Work in Progress.

Van Veen & Van Veen and Rumiantsev, 3 pianos

This pianotrio was founded in 1997 when the three pianists decided to start working on Incantatie IV by Simeon ten Holt for the anual Lek Art Concert, which is held every year in Culemborg. In the studio they practised many hours on the 3 pianos to get a global idea of the composition which is a book with 200 pages.