© Peter Teunissen
Solo & Chamber music
Johann's leftovers
2020
Piano solo
Premièred on July 23rd - Moses and Aaron church, Amsterdam by Jacqueline Smit
Imagine that Bach was not a composer but a tailor and that you would sneak into his studio after he had finished yet another beautiful dress to collect the leftovers of fabric. Then you try to sew these leftovers back together as best you can. The contours of the different parts of the garment more or less reappear. Yet it has become something completely different. In Johann’s leftovers I follow the contours of the Prelude in G major from The Well-Tempered Clavier, part 2, as precisely as possible. I used all the notes between the two parts, and 1 or 2 around them, as material, in order to follow the progression of Bach’s notes as precisely as possible. The listener will probably recognize the original work in it, yet it has become something completely different.
Performances
Mar. 3rd 2021 - Kloosterkerk, the Hague by Jacqueline Smit
June 10th 2021 - Van Ommenpark, the Hague by Jacqueline Smit
Aug. 5th 2021 - Moses and Aaron church, Amsterdam
Apr. 30th 2022 - Oranjekerk, Amsterdam by Ana Sanchez Donate
© Peter Teunissen
Werden Menschen Brüder? Alle?
2019
Piano solo
Commissioned by Susanne Kessel
Premièred on May 2nd 2019 at Leoninum, Bonn (Germany)
Susanne Kessel - piano
Looking at the state of Europe, at the very start of 2019, one wonders what is left of the ideas of the Enlightment that shaped it. A few decades it almost seemed as if it finally reached an almost triumphant finale: from the breakdown of the Berlin Wall now almost 30 years ago, resulting in the reunion of the two Germany's, to the monetary union founded in Maastricht in 1992 (where I happened to study at the conservatory at the time) resulting in the introduction of the Euro, now 20 years ago. More and more countries became members of the EU, and everything seemed to be fine until somewhere in the first decade of the Millennium the tide slowly altered. And now, on this second day of the new year, we're at the brink of Brexit, the birthplace of European culture Greece still in a precarious economic state, politicians calling for new walls around the Mediterranean borders, countries refusing to allow refugees, other countries complaining too much of their wealth being drained to other countries. What would Ludwig think of all this, his Ode to joy theme being the official anthem of the European Union? According to Slavoj Zizek Beethoven already questioned the idea of universal brotherhood in his 9th Symphony, his revolutionary idealism being shattered before by Napoleon's narcissism. The question when it comes to the ideology of universal brotherhood is: Werden Menschen Brüder? Alle? Or is there someone excluded? The second part of Ode to joy is stands in sharp contrast to the first, being more vulgar and ultimately outrageous. It expresses a joy that's over the top. According to Zizek Beethoven here tells the true story of that which disturbs the ideology of brotherhood and the eventual failure to constrain or to tame it.
Performances
June 14th 2019 - Klavierhaus Klavins, Bonn (Germany) by Susanne Kessel
June 21st 2020 - Stadthalle Kleve (Germany) by Susanne Kessel
Gone
(for Katerina Konstantourou)
2017
Piano and tape
Premièred on May 24th 2017 - Municipal conservatory of Kalamata (Greece)
A short farewell to my dear friend and ambassador of my work who returned to Athens after many years in The Netherlands. The tape is constructed from field recordings made with my home-made Aeolian harp.
Performances
Dec. 19th 2017 Goethe Institute, Athens (Greece) by Katerina Konstantourou
© Peter Teunissen
Marginalia
2015
Flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion
Commissioned by Bristol University
Highly commended at the Old Hispanic Office composition competition
Premièred on Feb. 7th 2017 at Victoria Rooms, Bristol (UK)
Kokoro ensemble - Mark Forkgen (cond.)
Considering the impossibility of restoring a well-preserved and magnificent repertoire such as the Old Hispanic Office made me aware of an almost forgotten historical drama that took place in an era almost incomparable to our time. Music that was alive and performed on a daily basis became a footnote in musical history due to political decisions. Marginalized to be practiced only in a few places until it was forgotten. The manuscript from which I took a very small Alleluia (Leon 8, Folio 207v) as a basis for my piece, appeared to be full of Alleluia’s written in the margins of the folio’s. In my compositional approach I wanted to create a situation in which I could learn from the characteristics of this musical style, respecting these characteristics without making a pastiche out of it. I was looking for a meeting point between the monophonic character of chant and more contemporary techniques. For this I first created a melodic line from the neumes of the Alleluia, which are consistently followed throughout the piece. By use of heterophony the melody appears in different layers and rhythms as if it’s echoed in a large acoustic (time)space. From this, something one might call harmony appears. Extended techniques in most instruments are added as percussive elements. They embellish the melody as contemporary ornamentations. But most of all I wanted to create a piece in which the feeling of something precious being lost is expressed as a reminder to us to maintain what nowadays sometimes only seems to be marginal in our society.
Gejaagd III
2015
Premièred on Mar. 12th 2016 at Gallerie Bloemrijk Vertrouwen, Altsjerk
Living in the polder, the wind is an almost inescapable phenomenon. Intangible and omnipresent. As if from another world. And even though we can explain its presence using air pressure differences and other meteorological techniques, it remains fascinating when you try to imagine where all that air comes from. Somewhere far away, the same air once flowed as now here and soon elsewhere.... In this disenchanted world, I often long for such intangible phenomena. For example, at the beginning of 2013 I built an aeolian harp from PVC. Touched by the wind, such inspiring sounds emerged that I have been completely captivated by it ever since. In the meantime, this has led to 3 related works: one electronic, one for flute and tape, and one for piano and tape. Each time, one builds on the other: the drone-like sounds of the tape formed a harmonious space in which the flute could move. Then that in turn formed the basis for a baroque-like prelude for the piano. And who knows where that will lead. Gone with the wind my mind continues to blow for now….
Performances
Jan. 27th 2024 KET, Athens (Greece)
© Peter Teunissen
© Peter Teunissen
Canticum trium puerorum
2013
31- ET Fokker-Huygens organ
Commissioned by Stichting Huygens-Fokker
Premièred on Feb. 10th 2013 at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Ere Lievonen - Fokker-Huygens organ
This piece was the first result of my research of the Antifonario de la Cathedral de Léon from 11th century Spain. The chants in this beautiful manuscript, notated in most intriguing neumes, at that time were studied by a.o. dr. Emma Hornby of Bristol University. But it was Geert Maessen, with whom I sang in ensemble Virga, that brought it to my interest. The composition is made up of an interpretation I made of the chant taken from the book of Daniel. I transcribed a possible melody from the adiastematic neumes and harmonized it in different ways. The 31-tone tuning of the organ made it possible to create a microtonal mode that to me fitted the melodic shapes and gestures of the neumes.
Performances
Apr. 21st 2013 Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Apr. 26th 2015. Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
Pianosonata
2010
Commissioned by and dedicated to Katerina Konstantourou
Premièred on Oct. 19th 2013 at Athenaeum Conservatory in Athens, Greece
Although I had set myself the task when writing the Piano Sonata to focus on form and the maximum use of a minimum number of musical elements, the moment in time at which I began was of such political turbulence that it proved impossible to ignore all of that. Music, in my opinion, no matter how abstract it is, is always a representation of a moment in time, a picture of the times. Well, in September 2010, the future of our country and especially that of the arts suddenly looked extremely bleak. Earlier that year, to my horror, it suddenly turned out that one in three of my fellow citizens was a supporter of a fascist political party, and after the summer, this party also became part of the government in a remarkable way (not, but still). The very first feat of arms of this was a rigorous blunt-axe cutback in the arts sector. Suddenly it turned out that what I had been fighting hard for for years, and what had been achieved with a lot of toil, had been reduced to the result of a (left-wing, of course) hobby. Somehow, the video clip of the song Blackhole Sun by Soundgarden haunted me for days. It shows a terrifyingly neat society full of 'shiny, happy people'. Grinning, just like our ever-optimistic prime minister, in their raked gardens, stubbornly ignoring the impending catastrophe. I used the bass riff that puts an end to this happy Suburbia in the middle of the song as musical material for the first part. This develops into an unsubtle dialogue between 3 musical elements that just don't seem to want to understand each other. They endlessly repeat their statement, but they don't influence each other. The only thing that develops is an increasing agitation and grimness, which explodes at the end. The second part, like the negative of a photo, only contains the pitches that were not used in the first part. Everything in this seems unsteady. There is movement, but as if one were walking over quaking bogs. And whenever there seems to be some stability, everything falls apart again. Finally, in the third movement, as in many classical sonatas, there is a theme with variations. This begins after a straight-to-the-point intro. However, the theme then begins in such a hesitant, doubtful rhythm that it is at first almost unrecognizable as such, and seems to lose its coherence every time. Gradually, more movement arises and it even seems to start swinging for a moment. At the end, elements from the first two movements return, after which they slowly disappear into the same black hole from which they emerged.
Performances
Jan. 26 th 2014 Toets des tijds, Amsterdam
Feb. 2nd 2014 't Mosterdzaadje, Santpoort
Nov. 22nd 2014 De bovenkamer, Zeist
Jan. 25th 2015 De Verbeelding, Zeewolde
Oct. 25th 2015. Gallerie Bloemrijk Vertrouwen, Aldtsjerk
© Peter Teunissen
Horrible tango
2006
bandoneon, 2 trp, 2 trb, perc and tape
Premièred at Codarts Rotterdam on may 15th 2007
Claudio Constantini - bandoneon
Bas Duister & ? - trumpet
Victor Belmonte & Pierre Lefort - trombone
Oscar Alblas - percussion
Miranda Driessen - conductor
Horrible tango was written for an ensemble of bandoneon, 4 brass players, percussion and tape. The tape part is derived from recordings I made from the noises of the feet of tangodancers. Also I used a recording of the voice of Osvaldo Pugliese, the famous tango composer. It was the sound of the shifting, stamping, and clicking of the feet on one hand, and Pugliese speaking in the rhythm of a tango that fascinated me. During the period I was working on this piece I read a novel by Jan Wolkers called Horrible tango. From the beginning there is an obsessive tension in the story that remains until the very end. Of course there is a same kind of obsessiveness in tango, especially, I think, in the music of Pugliese. There’s another ‘story’ to the piece. Since we have an Argentine princess in the Netherlands that stole the heart of many dutch citizens no one ever seems to remember the cruelty that happened in Argentina under the dictator Videla. (while her father was his minister of agriculture) We now have this icon of the weeping Royal bride listening to “Adios Noniño” by Astor Piazolla and never question where she came from anymore.