My first encounter with the music of Ton Bruynèl was in May 2015 with his Rain for 2 pianos 8-hands and tape from 1982, performed by the Dutch Pianist’s Quartet on Attacca Babel 9481, “Works for two pianos eight hands”, with compositions of Robert Nasveld, Theo Loevendie, Ravel, François-Bernard Mâche and Graham Fitkin. The piece beautifully mixes, even blends, acoustic instruments and reprocessed tape sounds. It is only now, to create this Bruynèl introductory page, that I investigate more about him, and realize that he was very much influenced by the French “Musique concrète” of Pierre Schaeffer and, with Dick Raaijmakers and Jan Boerman, one of the Dutch pionneers of electronic and tape music and of mixing acoustic instruments and sounds. Sure, that was the appeal of his piece for 2 pianos and sounds. Back then I concluded: “Here’s a composer worth exploring further”. Well, I did: a year later (having forgotten about my review of the Attacca Babel CD) I bought “Looking Ears”, the ultmate 6-CD retrospective of his works, CV Near 12, and after reposting here my review of the Dutch Pianist’s Quartet I pulled it of my shelves and listened. It’s an exceptional set and confirms what Rain announced: this is a composer worth exploring, with little peers in the beauty of his blending of acoustic and electronic.
Of related interest:
CV Near 04-08 (5 CDs) The Complete Tape Music of Jan Boerman, barcode 8713309102048
CV Near 09-11 (3 CDs) Dick Raaijmakers The Complete Tape Music, barcode 8713309102093
Much more on Bruynèl on his website.