The new recording from classical guitarist Martin Van Hees (on the TRPTK label), brings together compositional works from prominent Dutch composers: Roderik de Man, Aart Strootman, Jan-Peter de Graaff, Christiaan Richter, Leo Samana, Louis Andriessen, as well as Van Hees himself. There’s such diversity of tone and colour in these works, I decided to briefly review each of them. All, I believe, complement the concept of the album. The expressive layers of each composition come through the guitar of Martin Van Hees, who plays the instrument with excitement and precision.
I found the idea very interesting of having all composers the same nationality. There are a few details in the album notes where Van Hees comments a little about each composer. Intrigued, I researched more and found several writings from the soloist dating back to his Master’s degree studies at The Royal Conservatory in the Hague. Since then, he showed a growing interest in these composers. A desire to learn about their work, questioning how the composers imagined the playing style of their compositions. This important work paves the way for a unique and coherent sound throughout the album. As such, he invested himself into each composition, its complexities, and even conducted interviews and played the work for some of the composers (de Man, Andriessen and Samana). The pairing of soloist and composer is for our benefit as we listen to a faithful interpretation of the score.
