Contemporary Music
mon 9 feb 2009 19:00 hrs
Limburg Cheese #2.
This is the second episode of the series ‘Limburg cheese’ about contemporary music from Limburg, the Netherlands. This episode is entirely dedicated to the music by John Slangen (*1951). Mr. Slangen studied Theory of Music and Composition with Matty Niël at the Maastricht Conservatory. Nowadays, he teaches both subjects at that same conservatory. Mr. Slangen mainly composes in a quite rigid composing style. At first hearing, his music might very well sound a bit mathematic but you get used to that very quickly. And that’s when the music becomes very striking. Or, as Mr. Slangen likes to say: “I start from the 12 tones. Very simple. I then structure it so that the tones are coherent. This coherence creates the meaning of music. That sounds very technical but in the end it’s the emotion that matters to me: can I relate to the music with my heart? If no, the music doesn’t serve a purpose. Composing for me is a journey to the heart.”
