(2007)
- Commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst. Written for the piano duo Wyneke Jordans and Leo van Doeselaar.
A score can be obtained through Donemus via this link.
Recently I sat down at the piano for an hour and played through a thick collection of Robert Schumann’s short pieces. Strange but true: in modern music one hardly ever comes across a character piece. This observation gave me the idea of writing a commissioned work for piano four hands as a collection of short pieces entitled Dream Leaves. Anything can happen in a dream – this realization gave me a wonderful feeling of freedom during the composition process. Robert Schumann: thanks.
1. Falling asleep restlessly.
2. Dream drops.
3. Dream of the girl at the spinning wheel.
4. Dream of the beloved who cannot agree.
5. Impatient watchman of dreams.
6. Déjà entendu dream.
7. Merry-go-round of nightly thoughts.
8. Last sweet dream of life.
World premiere: July 27th 2008 in the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam during the Robeco series (5 movements).
First performance of the complete cycle: October 26th 2008 in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.
A grand piano with a three pedals is required. The specific use of the middle pedal in part #4 creates an echo-like effect. If the piano doesn’t have a middle pedal, one can achieve a reasonable similar effect by placing a dictionary or other heavy object on the lowest five black keys.