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Traumblätter (Dream Leaves)

Traumblätter (Dream Leaves) (2007)

Commissioned by the Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst. Written for Wyneke Jordans and Leo van Doeselaar.

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.

dreams

      1. Das unruhige Einschlafen (Falling asleep restlessly), 1'50
      2. Traumtropfen (Dreamdrops), 3'14
      3. Traum des Mädchens am Spinnrad (Dream of a girl at the spinning-wheel), 1'38
      4. Traum der Geliebten die sich nicht verstehen können (Dream of the beloved who cannot agree), 2'57
      5. Ungeduldiger Traumwächter (Impatient Watchman of Dreams), 1'10
      6. Déjà-entendu Traum (‘Déjà-entendu’ Dream), 2'04
      7. Karussell nächtlicher Gedanken (Merry-go-round of nightly thoughts), 2'45
      8. Letzter süsser Traum des Lebens (Last sweet Dream of Life), 3'33

World premiere: July 27th 2008 in the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw/Amsterdam during the Robeco series (5 movements).
First performance complete cycle: October 26th 2008 in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.