Playing
over eight thousand chords in half an hour is no problem for a computer.
But when done by a human pianist, it’s a breakthrough in piano
technique. After ten years of work, composer/pianist Samuel Vriezen
managed to record his remarkable version of Tom Johnson’s 1985 cult
classic, The Chord Catalogue. Together with a major solo piece by
Vriezen himself, it is now available on CD from Edition Wandelweiser
Records.
The Chord Catalogue is a simple idea. Johnson, a composer known for his
playful mathematical experiments in music, calls the piece a ‘list’
rather than a composition. It consists of all chords you can play using
the thirteen keys of one octave, from the 2-part combinations up to the
13-tone cluster. In between, a weirdly mesmerizing music of surprising
vivacity unfolds. Simple as the idea is, the musical result is rich and
complex.
In 2002, Vriezen was the first pianist other than Johnson himself to
take the piece seriously as a virtuoso concert work. Playing the piece
at more than twice Johnson’s speed, he has managed to make more audible
the beauty and excitement hidden within this rigid concept. This
requires a whole new kind of piano technique and a new way of thinking
about rhythm, melody and color.
Johnson loved Vriezen’s performances, and the two composers became
friends. Vriezen dedicated his Within Fourths/Within Fifths, composed in
2006, to Johnson. It responds to Johnson’s musical ideas, but applies
them within a sound world of a very different quality. Here, similar
simple principles of rigid construction yield highly lyrical meditations
of chord progressions, with organically expanding and contracting
melodic patterns emerging from its gradually transforming world of
colors.
In 2012, with the help of friends and of Johnson himself, Vriezen
embarked on a highly successful crowd funding campaign, with the goal of
recording his unique rendition of The Chord Catalogue besides the piece
that he wrote in homage to the older composer. Hundreds of music
enthusiasts worldwide offered their support for the project. In less
than two months, Vriezen raised the money to rent a hall and one of the
best pianos in the Netherlands. The result, a disc pairing strong
conceptual unity with widely contrasting atmospheres, can be heard now.
Michel van der Aa, Aagje, Mirsa Adami, Christopher Adler, Jacob Adler,
Arnoud van Adrichem, Jim Aitchison, Myfanwy Alderson, Frank Alexander,
Jennifer Allum, Louis Andriessen, Pantxo Arretz, Maarten van As, Ali
Askin, Oana Avasilichioaei, Joost Baars, Claudio Baroni, Dennis
Bathory-Kitsz, Jay Batzner, Anne Becking, Steve van Beek, Zohra
Beldman, Antoine Beuger, Stefan Beyst, Sandeep Bhagwati, Catharina
Blaauwendraad, Marijke Bloem, Jaap Blonk, Joost de Bloois, Philipp
Blume, Estelle Boelsma, Martijn Bolkestein, Dante Boon, Sidney
Boquiren, Susanna Borsch, Younes Bouadi, Evert Bouws, David M. Bowen,
Jerry Bowles, Colette Broeckaert, J.C. Bruins-van der Hulst, Wilbert
Bulsink, Jack Callahan, Christian Carey, Laura Carmichael, Florence
Chaumont, Boudewijn Cielen, Anthony Ciesielka, Carson Cooman, Evan
Cordes, Allan Cronin, Simon Cummings, Frans Curvers, Maria van Daalen,
Jose daLuz, David Daratony, D. Edward Davis, Rosemary Davis, Hans
Dekkers, Gilbert Delor, Hans Demeyer, Erik van Dieden, F. van
Dixhoorn, Emily Doolittle, David Drexler, Tom Dyer, Cathy van Eck,
Edwin Fagel, Suzanne Fagel, John Fallas, Douglas Farrand, Melaina
Feenstra, Marianne de Feijter, Rubén Figaredo, Christopher Fox, Nadia
Francavilla, Jürg Frey, Jason Fulford, Paul Gangloff, Bas Geerts,
Hélène Gelèns, Piet Gerbrandy, Monica Germino, Vincent W. J. van
Gerven Oei, Samuel Gilbert, Bob Gilmore, Bernard Girard, Robert Glick,
Klaas van Gorkum, Maarten van der Graaff, Hans Groenewegen, Rob
Halpern, Dick van Halsema, Laurens Ham, Sam Hayden, James Helgeson,
Ernst van den Hemel, Johnny Herbert, Johan Herrenberg, Rozalie Hirs,
Michael Hodder, Ton van 't Hof, Julia Holter, Reinier van Houdt, Lucas
Hüsgen, Shirin Jalali, Jannes, Franck Jedrzejewski, Cristina Jiménez
Peralta, Evan Johnson, Tom Johnson, Joost J. Joosten, Stan Kaatee,
Marianne Kalsbeek, Jeromos Kamphuis, Zubin Kanga, Frank Keizer, Erica
Kemper, Harald Kerres, Eugene Kim, Marije Koens, Gert-Jan Kooren,
Frans-Willem Korsten, Caglar Koseoglu, Dmitri Kourliandski, Adriaan
Krabbendam, Tomasz Krakowiak, Roland Kuit, David Kweksilber, Yannis
Kyriakides, Anne La Berge, Juan Sebastian Lach Lau, Teun de Lange,
Henk Lasschuit, Kris Latoir, Josien Laurier, Steve Layton, Avigail
Caspi Lebovic, Jan van Leeuwen, Madeleine Lenagh, Herb Levy, John
Rodney Lister, Ernst van der Loo, Albert Manders, Rob Manthey, Arnold
Marinissen, Missy Mazzoli, Ned McGowan, David McIntire, Andrew
McIntosh, Scott McLaughlin, Janis Mercer, Geert Meuffels, Pascal
Meyer, Rüdiger Meyer, Sara Molinari, Kate Moore, Erín Moure, Demetrio
Muñoz Gielen, Jonathan Myers, Mayke Nas, Ketty Nez, Ricco van Nierop,
Juhani Nuorvala, Rachel O’Reilly, Serge Onnen, Wouter Osterholt,
Merijn Oudenampsen, Philip Peters, Bart van der Pligt, Jacob Plooij,
Gijsbert Pols, Sarah Posman, Bart Prins, John Prokop, Marcel Raman,
Anne-Mariken Raukema, Angela Rawlings, Marc Reichow, Ronnie Reshef,
Melinda Rice, Matthijs de Ridder, Renée de Rijk, Olaf Risee, Ruth
Rose, Dean Rosenthal, Justus Rozemond, Sam Rozemond, Xander Rühl, Tim
Rutherford-Johnson, Marieke Samson, Dan Schmidt, Corriette
Schoenaerts, Elmer Schönberger, Eleonore Schonmaier, Barbara Schoute,
Joky Schoute, Hester Schoute, Kees Schoute, Margot Schreuder, Patrick
Schreuder, Pieter Schreuder, Elliott Schwartz, Mark Seegers, Bruce
Sesnovich, Sam Sfirri, Keiko Shichijo, Elisabeth Smalt, Lisanne
Snelders, Floris Solleveld, Jochem van der Spek, Jonas Staal, Teodora
Stepancic, Angela Stevenson, D. Andrew Stewart, Arjen Stolk, Taylan
Susam, Tom Swafford, Paul Swoger-Ruston, Toon Teeken, Dorinde de
Tempe, Hugh Thomas, Guido Tichelman, Mark van Tongeren, Elisabeth
Tonnard, David Toub, Vasilios Tsokis, Iris van der Tuin, Elke
Uitentuis, Frances-Marie Uitti, Libby Van Cleve, Tom Van de Voorde,
Maud Vanhauwaert, Erik Vanlangendonck, Jack Vees, Han van der Vegt,
Herlinda Vekemans, Ineke Veldhuis, Justus Verhagen, Striptekenaar
Vick, Ingrid van der Voort, Martijn Voorvelt, Tao G. Vrhovec Sambolec,
Emma de Vries, Gerrit Vriezen, Henk Vriezen, Angela Vu, Sake van der
Wall, Juan Felipe Waller, Raoul van der Weide, Stefan Weisman, Lars
Werdenberg, Bas Wiegers, Mike Winter, Barbara Woof, Luiz Henrique
Yudo, Christof Zürn, Ben Zwaal, Klaske Zwaal-Bruinsma, Miek Zwamborn
