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Double CD Music for after anything

Ping! Nasveld plays with a typewriter
“Robert Nasveld (1955) is in addition to composer also pianist and radio producer. That explains his relatively modest oeuvre, a significant part of which has now been recorded on a double CD by the Attacca label, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year. The CD therefore looks especially good. Nasveld has always been a wayward composer, showing little interest in trends. Nevertheless an increasing predilection for melodiousness can be found in his compositions. His recent works such as his Strijkkwartet and the ensemble piece Music For The Billions are pretty downright tonal, certainly in comparison to the veiled, but already magnificent harmonies of Three Pieces For Two Pianos Eight Hands (1982). What they have in common is a recalcitrant treatment of rhythm. The music pulses, but tapping along is rarely possible. Two electronic works testify once again to Nasveld’s command of form. But he also has a sense of humor, which is immediately evident in Preparations for Coma , where pianist Polo de Haas accompanies Harry Sparnaay on a typewriter. Ping!”
Frits van der Waa, De Volkskrant November 29, 2001

Robert Nasveld
“This is how a pianist composes who takes exuberant pleasure in chords, arpeggios and repeated notes: Robert Nasveld (1955), founder of the Orgella Quartet specializing in works for two pianos, four hands. The music, revealed in a double CD with eleven compositions from the period 1974-2000, addresses minimalism in a personal manner: doing something special to simple material, with an obsession for identical figures and a ‘packed up’ tonal bass. Not so much playful as magnificent is Monument for piano, originating after a period in which the composer temporarily stagnated. Inspirational sources were the 1991 Moscow coup and the second movement of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier sonata. Intensivo is stated expressly in the score and the mechanical character scarcely hides a feeling for drama and even ecstasy. The piano style is limited to a small number of figures, and the same is true for the recent string quartet. A timeworn turn—when Wagner was at a standstill he would use it to get the music going again—is promoted from ornament to main component”.
Ernst Vermeulen, NRC July 18, 2002

For lovers of modern classical music MUSIC FOR AFTER ANYTHING will be a valuable buy
Music for after anything is a double CD by Dutch composer and pianist Robert Nasveld. The great artwork includes very informative booklet with photos and liner notes written by the composer himself that open the door to his creative laboratory. Music for after anything is made up of diverse compositions that basically explore the possibilities of the piano and present a panoramic view on the historic development of the instrument. Nevertheless, piano is not the only instrument on show here. The core of the composition Preparations for Coma is the chirring of a typewriter which is beautifully augmented by the piano bits played by Polo de Haas as well as bass clarinet of Harry Sparnaay. The oldest musical instrument – human voice – dominates in the second track called Imaginations I. The three-minute track Triplum (perhaps, the most mesmerizing number of the bunch) simply takes your breath away with its magical energy. The composition consists of three separate parts and is performed by the Utrecht Chamber Choir. A subtle shift of view is perceivable in the title track that opens the second disc. It lets you see the new sides of already known phenomenon and situations. This is music of impressions, granting the epilogues with the life of the main story, turning the after word into the linking plot. This after, or the subtlest aftertaste is brought into focus here. The shift of view also results in our changed perception of the episodes of life. The list of these episodes is also included in the booklet and it numbers 22 occupations, events and states: having one’s teeth cleaned, a visit to the social worker, learning of a grant refusal etc. Space and time are the dimensions in which the composer operates, taking them to a special level – the one of the newborn sonic fantasy. Exceptionally beautiful music, although its beauty is not pastoral, but contradictory, unstable, disturbing, capable of stimulating all spiritual forces of the listener. Going through all levels of music, taking in all of its moods, infiltrating its body, we acquire our own versatile experience which is not only musical. For lovers of modern classical music MUSIC FOR AFTER ANYTHING will be a valuable buy”.
Julia Soultanova, CHAIN D.L.K. ID #603 February 25, 2003

Bass clarinet and typewriter
“A compilation CD in de best sense of the word as indicated by the title ‘Music for after anything’: by collecting eleven works written between 1974 and 2000 the Dutch composer Robert Nasveld gives an illustration of the road he has traveled during the last twenty-five years. A little of everything as well that was high-profile during the last quarter century: from the somewhat experimental touch in the duet for bass clarinet and typewriter to adult pieces for tape; from the exploitation of free sounds and text collages in work for choir to a penetrating and monumental string quartet (2000), which celebrates the regained possibilities of expression and tonality. Nasveld is extraordinarily witty in Millions of Guilders (1997), where he makes fun of governmental officialese. In baritone Tido Visser’s cheerful rap-vocal the precise but pedantic and woolly argumentation inexorably leads to the inevitable rejection. The sumptuous piano accompaniment, played by Nasveld himself, gives extra cachet to the ironic whole. Nasveld taps deeper sources in the performance of his composition for piano, Monument (1991) and with the aforementioned String Quartet. The rendition by the Zephyr Quartet evokes a world of ethereal timelessness. It is a personal document, but at the same time this double CD reveals something of the capricious spirit of the late 20th century”.
Kees Arntzen, Dagblad Trouw March 17, 2003