Simeon ten Holt - Canto Ostinato for two pianos and two marimbas

Every work by 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐭 hides an unmistakable 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮𝘢 wrapped in the 𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘳𝘦 of a unique code, achieved through a highly personal use of tonality after “𝘭𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢̀”.

Son of the painter 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢 𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐭, the Dutch composer trained with 𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐛 𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐞𝐫, a representative of the 𝐃𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐣𝐥 movement, credited with the first attempt to apply the principles of 𝐍𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦 to music.

After experimenting with electronic music and combining serialism and aleatory techniques with tonal parameters, 𝐒𝐭𝐇 developed a personal poetics that oscillates between tonality and atonality, which he defined as 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘦, moving along the combination of complementary tonalities.

Organized into cells of a few measures repeated ad libitum according to the performer’s preferences, his works adopt mathematical procedures alongside tonal material and combinations that find their reference point in the visual arts and the piano as the instrument of choice.

Many of his works, in fact, are for piano or ensembles of multiple pianos.

The most complete expression of this approach is this "𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐎𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨," a composition of variable length written for an indefinite number of keyboards and structured in sections with an “𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘰” character, similar to that of 𝐈𝐧 𝐂 by 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐑𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲, but also reminiscent of the finale of 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐨 by 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 (𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘰 𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘰 𝘥𝘪 𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰-𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢).
(cit, taken from alfabeta2.it)