''Feico Deutekom’s solo piano arrangements of Philip Glass’ orchestral music come from the heart, from many hours spent untangling and reassembling the composer’s hypnotic, gently swirling textures. Over the years, Glass has encouraged musicians to reinvent his works—to unearth new timbres, new paths of expression. Such is Deutekom’s total immersion in, and love of, Glass’ output that orchestral pieces such as Glassworks, Company, and music from the chamber opera Les Enfants terribles emerge freshly minted but with the distinct Glass hallmark intact. As if to prove the point, Deutekom intersperses his “musical offering” with a handful of the composer’s original piano works that complement this fascinating and brilliantly performed new glimpse at Glass’ world.'' APPLE MUSIC
''Fans of Glass will know the gently romantic Facades, and Deutekom’s arrangement is a very natural sounding version that gives the impression that it had always been intended for the piano, which is about all you can ask from an arrangement. Company is also turned into an excellent piano piece, again (it) sounds here as if born for the piano.
There have been a few nice piano recordings of Philip Glass’s piano music in recent years, (...) but this Musical Offering takes us beyond the Etudes and into fresh territory. Superbly performed, nicely recorded and smartly presented, this disc amplifies their number and unveils a significant addition to the Glass piano repertoire.''
MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL
Met goedkeuring van Philip Glass, ‘de meester’
Pianist Feico Deutekom houdt zich al jarenlang bezig met het bestuderen van de muziek van Glass. Deutekom is gefascineerd door de composities die de diepte en de doordachtheid van klassieke muziek combineren met de directheid van popmuziek. Toen Deutekom het plan bedacht om een heel album op te nemen met Glass-composities wilde hij zich niet beperken tot de bekende pianostukken, maar daarnaast zelf orkestmuziek van Philip Glass arrangeren voor piano. Deutekom en Glass kennen elkaar; ze voeren samen wel eens quatre-mainsstukken uit.
Glass was meer dan tevreden over Deutekoms aanpak en Musical Offering kreeg de goedkeuring van ‘de meester’. Het album verscheen dan ook op Glass’ eigen label Orange Mountain Music.
Het romantische ‘Facades’ klinkt onder de handen van Deutekom alsof het voor piano was bedoeld. Ook ‘Company’ zou heel goed een pianocompositie kunnen zijn. Deutekom heeft een bescheiden, maar zekere aanslag, die goed past bij het rustgevende karakter van deze muziek. Deutekom koos drie delen uit de dans-opera ‘Les enfants terrible’ (geïnspireerd door een verhaal van de Franse schrijver Jean Cocteau). Deutekom combineert oud werk van Glass met nieuwe composities. ‘Distant Figure’ (Passacaglia voor solopiano) is bijvoorbeeld een recent stuk uit 2017.
Philip Glass schreef ‘Offering’ in 1990 samen met de Indiase componist en sitarspeler Ravi Shankar (1920-2012). Mede dankzij de samenwerking met Shankar, die met zijn hypnotiserende manier van spelen een brug wist te slaan tussen klassiek, jazz en pop, vond Philip Glas uiteindelijk zijn eigen bezwerende componeerstijl. ‘Offering’ was nog nooit eerder uitgevoerd door een piano en het is een van de hoogtepunten van dit album. NEDERLANDS DAGBLAD
Orange Mountain Music, the offical channel of Philip Glass music, presents the new album MUSICAL OFFERING by pianist Feico Deutekom. This new album presents new piano arrangements of classic works by Philip Glass as well as pieces originally composed for piano by Glass himself. Performed by Feico Deutekom who has a long working relationship with Philip Glass and is one of the preeminent specialists of late-Minimalist music, this new album presents new and old music in ways it has never been heard before.
The album starts with Deutekom’s arrangement of FACADES from Philip Glass’s landmark 1982 recording Glassworks. Dreamy and romantic in its original form, when played on piano, Facades takes on a new beautiful dimension. This precedes Glass’s music for COMPANY, which was originally incidental music for a 1980 production of the Samuel Beckett play of the same name. Glass turned this short four-movement piece into his Second String Quartet, one of his most popular pieces, and it is heard here for the first time on solo piano.
We jump forward to one of Glass’s most recent works, his DISTANT FIGURE (Passacaglia for Solo Piano) from 2017 which Deutekom plays with incredible introspection. Deutekom’s expertise in the realm of late-period Minimalism comes to the fore in Distant Figure as well as in two other interpretations of Glass’s piano music including his Etude No.16 and the gorgeous Etude No.20 the last piece in the set of twenty piano etudes which Glass composed between the years 1994 and 2012.
This new album contains even more works heard on piano for the first time. These jewels include OFFERING from the set of pieces Glass composed with Ravi Shankar in 1990 for the album PASSAGES, and finally Deutekom features three selected movements from Glass’s 1996 dance-opera LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (The Holy Terrors) which was inspired by the story by Jean Cocteau. This recording is being released on Philip Glass's 83rd birthday of January 31, 2020. - Orange Mountain Music
