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"There are two means of refuge from the misery of life — music and cats." - Albert Schweitzer

Willem Jeths

Willem Jeths' musical language has become gradually less atonal over the years. His most recent compositions even have a prominent ground tone. Densely orchestrated sound blocks rub along one another and overlap in an idiom that might remind one more of Ligeti or Rihm than a typical composer of the Dutch school. It is worth noting that Willem Jeths won two prices at the 1996 International Composition Competition in Vienna, for his violin concert Glenz and for his Piano Concerto. The jury included Wolfgang Rihm, Gerard Grisey, Franco Donatoni, Lothar Knessl and Friedrich Cerha - composers who, like Jeths, are intensely attuned to sound as an aspect of composition. Jeths also won the ''Amsterdamprijs voor de kunst'' for his ouvre in 2014. Although a work by Willem Jeths might suggest the existence of a clear-cut plan, forms and structures fade to the background during the composition process. Jeths is driven by spirit and fancy, unfettered by predetermined routes or goals. Because he is so conscious of the basic material, the resulting form, individual and personal, appears to the listener as a taut, consistent concept that unifies the piece. This apparently contradiction, in which aesthetics and working method seem to collide, remains one of the most intriguing aspects, both musically and personally, of Willem Jeths.

Featured on

Willem Jeths
The tell-tale heart
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra | Juliane Banse | Tasmin Little
Willem Jeths
Requiem
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Netherlands Radio Choir / James Gaffigan / Willem Jeths
Willem Jeths
Ritratto
Dutch National Opera / Amsterdam Sinfonietta / Geoffrey Paterson
Willem Jeths
Symphony no. 1 | Recorder concerto
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra / Erik Bosgraaf / Karin Strobos
25th Anniversary Box
Osiris Trio