Louis Andriessen: De Materie

Out-minimalising the minimalists

     

If you like Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, you'll certainly like Louis Andriessen, and I bet you even like him more after De Materie (Matter). De Materie is perhaps his best work. It is written as an opera, there are choirs and there is singing, but this is not your average opera. Part I will blow your head off, especially the first part, with the staccato full orchestra hits, dare to pump up the volume until the cops come knocking. Then, part 2 is more quiet, subdued, but still extremely exciting and fresh. Film music, if you ask me. Part III feels like a party after I and II, with its jazzy polyrythms and complex horn sections, it is called De Stijl (Think an updated version of Mondrian's Victory Boogie Woogie). De Tijd closes off the series, and again is very slow and Morton Feldman-like. Don't smoke a joint with this or you'll float right out of the window.