|
National Post (Canada), Monday, November 27, 2000 "Flux/Reflux- a subtly orchestrated piece by Dutch composer Willem Jeths- was another highlight. Inspired by two deaths- that of the composer's mother and that of a former teacher- it seems to meditate on change and constancy, and the joy and grief of transformation; it makes beautiful use of an Eastern palette- in this case, temple bells and gongs." |
|
Fanfare, January/February 2001 JETHS Fas/Nefas. Glenz. Flux/Reflux. Pianoconcerto. David Porcelijn, Thierry Fischer, cond; Noordhollands PO; Tomoko Mukaiyama, Folke Nauta (pn); Peter Brunt (vn). DONEMUS CV88/89 (2 CDs: 90:14) When I was involved in the artistic direction of two orchestras in The Netherlands during the early 1990s, one of the most promising talents among the country's younger composers was Willem Jeths (born Amersfoort, 1959; pronounced "Yets"). These four orchestral works, which range in date from 1993 (Glenz, for violin and strings) by way of 1994 (the Piano Concerto) and 1997 (Fas/Nefas, for piano and orchestra) to 1998 (Flux/Reflux, for a moderate-sized orchestra with double winds), suggest that the promise is, if not unfailingly, still more abundantly than with some young composers being fulfilled. At his best, Jeths is an arresting and powerful voice on the contemporary scene. It is certainly possible to point to influences, most notably in a predilection for glissando effects and clouds of sonority that declare the ancestry of such 20th-century pioneers as Xenakis and Panufnik. But where in lesser hands such elements can degenerate into mere plagiarism, with Jeths it seems to me that there is always a strong personal impulse at work,so that under a surface of seemingly generic modernism- starkly incisive textures, uncompromising harmonic clashes, vehement dynamic contrasts, driving rhythms- the more profound susurration of another, often poetically evocative and mysterious world is clamouring insistently to be heard. In Flux/Reflux, the composer's own comments reveal, the animating principle (if that is not, in the context of Jeths's music prevailingly gloomy. Rather, along with clear-eyed confrontation of the dark forces, there is a bracing exhilaration in his determination to face them down- and if that is not a worthy project for an artist in our time, then I don't know what is. It is inspiring to find the North Holland Philharmonic, one of The Netherlands' remarkable plethora of regional orchestras, championing Jeths's music with excellent two-disc release. Inspiring, and at the same time sadly ironic, because the orchestra, based in Haarlem just 15 miles out of Amsterdam, yet serving a public and fulfilling an artistic mission of its own, just at this moment threatened with extinction in the latest phase of the Dutch government's belt-tightening subsidy cuts. The performances it achieves here, under the passionate leadership of conductors David Porcelijn and Thierry Fischer, joined by three excellent soloists, make the strongest possible case for the music, achieving prodigies of sustained brilliance and, at times, especially in the ravishing final minutes of Glenz, equally sustained lyrical delicacy. There are informative notes by Emile Wennekes, translated with unusual skill by Jonathan Reeder, and producer Ted Diehl has drawn sonorities of the utmost clarity and warmth from the acoustic environment of the Haarlem Concertgebouw. The only thing wrong, in my opinion, is the placement of Fas/Nefas as the opening piece on the first disc. This is a much less successful composition than its companions. Indeed, with its consistent repetition of banal repeated-note figures, it seems to me a rather silly piece, and it could easily prevent a less-than-determined listener from venturing further. I urge readers with an open ear for new sounds, as much for their own sake as for that of the orchestra (whose case might be helped by international sales of these discs, distributed in the US by Albany Records), to try this challenging music for themselves. Start with any of the other three works, and you are unlikely to be disappointed. Bernard Jacobson |
|
TROUW 10th of April 2001 "Jeths wrote his masterpiece "Flux/Reflux" as a kind of a requiem in which the ebb and flow of the sound refer to the big themes of life: death and eternity." Anthony Fiumara |
|
NRC Handelsblad Flugelhorn Concerto: 'Jeths' most colourful and exuberant composition to date... excitng to the very end', 'a terryfying adventure, a concerto that growls like a hell-hound' Ernst Vermeulen |
|
New York Times, 8 February 2005 Intus Trepidare, 3rd string quartet, performed by the KRONOS QUARTET on 5 February, Carnegie Hall New York Willem Jeths, a Dutch composer, was represented by "Intus Trepidare" ("Trembling from Within"), a 2002 work in which manic chordal bursts and eerie sliding music coalesced as a quirky, off-kilter dance. Allan Kozinn |
|
Financial Times (London), 25 January 2005 Intus Trepidare, 3rd string quartet, performed by the KRONOS QUARTET 22 January Barbican Centre, London "..... a sublime ending that drifted slowly into silence, left one grasping at thin air." Richard Wolfson |
|
Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 2005 Intus Trepidare, 3rd string quartet performed by the KRONOS QUARTET, Sydney The Dutch composer Willem Jeths's Intus Trepidare (Trembling from Within) was also strongly sectional, like trying to play gutsy riff in a dream where things keep going absurdly wrong. Peter McCallum |
|
NRC-Handelsblad, 29 April 2006 Willem Jeths wrote yesterday history because he is the first composer who dares to compose a double-concerto for two violas. ... Jeths composed 'Meme' for violinist Susanne van Els who together with her former teacher Nobuko Imai and the celestially performing Schoenberg Ensemble gave a very expressive premiere of this new work. The greek word 'meme' means imitation, and on this principle Jeths based this composition. In fact the concerto is a preliminary study to 'Hotel de Pekin', his new opera on texts by Friso Haverkamp. This opera about the ruthless Chinese empress Ci-X who is fascinated by the young concubine Shen-Fei in who she recognizes her lost youth. In 'Meme' both ladies are interpreted by two violas......... The viola is in Jeths' composition worked out masterly, especially in it's dark and sad sonorities sometimes with a passionate intensity reminisent to the sonatas for violin by Ysaye. On other moments the concerto is moving with an almost unattached lightness.The alternating moods are underlined by the ensemble in which a third viola (the eunuch) plays an enigmatic role. Wenneke Savenije |
|
LUISTER March, April 2008 beoordeling: 10 Uitvoering: ***** Registratie: ***** ***** (uitmuntend) Jeths Klarinetconcert Yellow Darkness Seanchai voor orkest Meme voor twee altviolen en ensemble Ombre Cinesi voor orkest Throb voor orkest Falsa Ficta voor cello en orkest Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer (klarinet), Susanne van Els en Nobuko Imai (altviool), Per Arne Glorvigen (bandoneon), Jan Hage (orgel, Throb), Frances-Marie Uitti (cello), Het Brabants Orkest o.l.v. Marc Soustrot (Klarinetconcert, Ombre Cinesi, Throb), Het Gelders Orkest o.l.v. Bernhard Klee (Seanchai), Jurjen Hempel (Bandoneonconcert), Roy Goodman (Falsa Ficta), Schoenberg Ensemble o.l.v. Reinbert de Leeuw (Meme) Dit is een cd zoals je ze helaas nog maar weinig tegenkomt. Nieuwe Nederlandse orkestwerken op cd is een schaars artikel, en nieuwe orkestmuziek van deze kwaliteit is nog schaarser. Willem Jeths (1959) is duidelijk bezig een van onze interessantste componisten te worden, en daarbij een taal te hanteren die ook voor een niet geschoold publiek te volgen is. Hij doet dat vooral door met klankkleuren te werken die het oor voortdurend blijven kietelen, maar maakt het zich op geen enkele manier gemakkelijk. Van de zeven werken op deze dubbelaar zijn vijf onstaan na 2000. Throb voor orgel en orkest werd geschreven in 1995, maar gereviseerd in 2005, en Falsa Ficta voor cello en orkest dateert uit 1999. Van de overige werken zijn er twee voor orkest alleen. Seanchai uit 2004 is een oosters klinkende ode aan de liefde en Ombre Cinesi uit 2005 lijkt een voorstudie voor de opera over de Chinese keizerin Ci Xi waaraan de componist thans werkt (libretto Friso Haverkamp, premiere later dit jaar in Enschede). Willem Jeths is altijd goed geweest in de categorie soloconcert, en van de vijf werken die daaronder vallen zijn er twee die eruit springen door hun aansprekelijkheid: het donkere klarinetconcert Yellow darkness uit 2005 en het zinderende bandoneonconcer met strijkorkest en slagwerk uit 2001. Het is hartverwarmend te mogen constateren dat de orkesten die het leeuwendeel van deze uitgave vertegenwoordigen het Brabants en het Gelders Orkest zijn, en ze zijn bovendien in topvorm. De chef van het Brabants orkest, Marc Soustrot dirigeert er maar liefst drie. Het Gelders heeft drie (uitstekende) gastdirigenten ingehuurd. De werken worden gespeeld door de solisten voor wie ze zijn geschreven en de Super Audio-opname is om door een ringetje te halen. Siebe Riedstra |