Jeroen van Veen: 24 Minimal Preludes Jeroen van Veen

• 1 Minimal Prélude No. 1 in C Major 05:40
• 2 Minimal Prélude No. 2 in A Minor 04:00
• 3 Minimal Prélude No. 3 in G Major 04:38
• 4 Minimal Prélude No. 4 in E Minor 04:23
• 5 Minimal Prélude No. 5 in D Major 03:24
• 6 Minimal Prélude No. 6 in B Minor 03:47
• 7 Minimal Prélude No. 7 in A Major 01:04
• 8 Minimal Prélude No. 8 in F-Sharp Minor 02:40
• 9 Minimal Prélude No. 9 in E Major 05:01
• 10 Minimal Prélude No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor 07:19
• 11 Minimal Prélude No. 11 in B Major 05:52
• 12 Minimal Prélude No. 12 in G-Sharp Minor 05:03
• 13 Minimal Prélude No. 13 in F-Sharp Major 06:53
• 14 Minimal Prélude No. 14 in E-Flat Minor 05:18
• 15 Minimal Prélude No. 15 in D-Flat Major 02:36
• 16 Minimal Prélude No. 16 in B-Flat Minor 02:56
• 17 Minimal Prélude No. 17 in A-Flat Major 04:34
• 18 Minimal Prélude No. 18 in F Minor 10:39
• 19 Minimal Prélude No. 19 in E-Flat Major 03:23
• 20 Minimal Prélude No. 20 in C Minor 04:13
• 21 Minimal Prélude No. 21 in B-Flat Major 04:37
• 22 Minimal Prélude No. 22 in G Minor 06:04
• 23 Minimal Prélude No. 23 in F Major 06:07
• 24 Minimal Prélude No. 24 in D Minor 09:54
• 25 Prélude No. 25 in A Minor 08:58
• Total Runtime 02:09:03

Info for Jeroen van Veen: 24 Minimal Preludes

Jeroen van Veen – Minimal Preludes Book I & II: The history of the Prelude goes back to Johan Sebastian Bach. He was the first composer to write 24 preludes and fugues in all 12 Major and 12 Minor keys. The prelude, literally foreplay, to the masterpiece of polyphony, the fugue.

It was Chopin who made the prelude as a piece that would stand by itself. Many composers followed the idea: Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff. I composed the 24 preludes in the books, Book I has number 1-12 and Book II 13-24, Following Chopin’s order of keys. The basic idea was to see if I would limit myself to just a few chords and techniques if I could create different works. Of course I was inspired by the great classical masters; I tried to combine the order of Chopin, the piano-techniques by Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the polyrhythmic by Philip Glass, the sound of Simeon ten Holt and the rhythms of Steve Reich. Each piece has its own character, starting from a very minimalistic point of view, less is more. What I didn’t realize that the pieces inspired many people, I got email’s and letters from artists working with my music. Writers who were inspired during their process, artists who made paintings on the minimal preludes, several lms were made using some preludes, choreographers like Doulgas Lee and Itzik Galili used it to build a ballet and in 2015 I was asked to work with Luk Perceval and Toneelgroep Amsterdam for a production where he selected the Minimal Preludes for a play.

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.

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