Wim Mertens
Wim Mertens ( born May 14, 1953 in Neerpelt ) is a Flemish Belgian composer, countertenor, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.
Life and work
Mertens studied at the University of Louvain, social and political sciences and musicology at the University of Ghent. In addition, music theory and piano at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels.
In 1978 he began to produce for the then BRT (Radio Télévision Belge - ). He produced concerts with Philip Glass, Steve Reich (both awarded the Praemium Imperiale - Nobel Prize for the Arts ), Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, and Urban Sax and directed the broadcast Funkytown.
In 1980 he published his first work, For Amusement Only, an electronic composition for pinball machines.
Since that time, Mertens has made the world, primarily as a composer. He is now one of the most important composers of the modern age and, together with Steve Reich, Terry Riley, La Monte Young and John Adams among the most influential representatives of Minimal Music.
Wim Mertens plays the piano and classical guitar. He sings with his unmistakable characteristic high-pitched voice, he developed himself in a fantasy language.
He appears internationally as a soloist, with different ensemble instrumentation, as well as with symphony orchestras.
He has written in a variety of formats:
- Of short, catchy, melodic and accessible pieces to sophisticated experimental pieces and complex, multi-part cycles
- Pieces for solo piano, chamber music ensemble and compositions for symphony orchestra
- Solo vocal and choral compositions (also in the striking for him fantasy language )
- Theater and film music.
He also writes for unusual occupations, such as 12 piccolos, 10 bass trombones, clarinets 13, ...
The style Mertens ' has continued to evolve during his prolific oeuvre and shows influences of minimalism, the ambient and the avant-garde. Usually reserves Mertens at the steps he had taken forays into the worlds of music its characteristic melodic base and connects with the lyric its voice with the instrumental.
In his now more than 30 years of work as a composer Wim Mertens time has released more than 50 albums. His complete catalog is published under EMI CLASSICS (except Spain, there under Warner Music Spain ).
Wim Mertens is the author of American Minimal Music, the first book that deals in depth with the School of American Repetitive Music. It includes a foreword by Michael Nyman.
His best-known album is Struggle for Pleasure, which contains the widely gecoverten Classic Struggle for Pleasure and Close Cover.
Mertens led the ensemble Soft Verdict.
Some special individual projects:
Discography
Wim Mertens I. solo: piano and vocals
Wim Mertens II & Ensemble: Instrumental and vocal
- 2008: With Usura ( 2CDs )
- 2008: L' heure du loup
- 2009: The World Tout Court
- 2010: Zee versus Zed
- 2011: Series of Ands / Immediate Givens (2 CDs)
- 2012: Struggle dor Pleasure / Double Entendre (2 CDs)
- 2012: A Starry Wisdom
- 2013: When tool met Wood
III. Wim Mertens: Symphony
- 2006: Partes Extra Partes - Flemish Radio Orchestra
- 2011: Open Continiuum - Tenerife Symphony Orchestra (2 CDs)
Wim Mertens IV: Cycles
- 2001: Aren Lezen 1995-2001 (13 CDs)
- 2009: QUA 1980-2001 (37 CD Box )
Wim Mertens V.: Live Shows
- 2002: Years Without History
- 2002: Years Without History
- 2002: Years Without History
- 2003: Years Without History
- 2004: Years Without History
- 2008: Years Without History ( 6 CDs)
- 2008: Years Without History
VI. Wim Mertens solo: guitar
Wim Mertens VII: Singles
Wim Mertens VIII: Best Of
IX. Wim Mertens: Film
Wim Mertens X.: DVD
- 2006 What you see is what you hear
- 2011 Open Continuum / Tenerife Symphony Orchestra
Publication
- Mertens, Wim (1983). American Minimal Music. Translation of the Belgian first publication (1980 ) by J. Hautekiet. Foreword by Michael Nyman. London: Kahn & Averill; White Plains, New York: Pro / Am Music Resources Inc. ISBN 1-871082-00-5; ISBN 0-912483-15-6.
Awards
1998 Cultural Ambassador of the Flemish Community