Canto Ostinato for 2 pianos

For many years now I go and visit Simeon ten Holt in Bergen in the Dutch province of North Holland. After the intensive discussions I often go to the nearby beach. One day, on a clear night, I understood the meaning of his music. I stared at the clear starry sky and heard the ‘repeating seas of sound’ which are so characteristic of Simeon’s music. At first sight the stars seemed to be placed chaotically. The longer I looked, the more stars I saw. When I looked for a really long time, I started to see connections. The stars looked like figures and formed recognisable images. The resemblance to the music by Simeon occurred to me. Initially separate tones are unimportant, motives seem subordinate. After listening for a while one hears more motives and melodic details. Only after a long time does one understand that the separate elements are part of a greater system. The background becomes the foreground and eventually shapes the entire composition. After prolonged listening one starts to relate to his music and like it. This musical language makes Simeon an individual, an individual in the Low Countries. Nobody is as consistent, authentic and timeless under the musical firmament. Kees Wieringa Since the first performance of Canto Ostinato it has become clear that this music not only introduced a new way of composing, but also a new way of listening. “Ten Holt has dedicated a great deal of his life to redefining the beauty of the triad and related tonal means. That he, on his own, cleared the way for the acceptation of many composers who are now working with tonal elements, is something that we will probably only start to appreciate fully in a few decades time.” (music journalist Paul Janssen)