De Eeuw van Simeon ten Holt
Documentary on Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt (1923-2012), made with the cooperation of his widow. Of course featuring his best-known work – Canto Ostinato – in a performance at the Ruin Church in Bergen.
Composer Simeon ten Holt lived most of his life in his native Bergen and died there in 2012. Canto Ostinato is his best-known work, but he wrote so much more. Think for instance of his Solo Devil Dances and Incantation IV. In the documentary De Eeuw Van Simeon Ten Holt, these pieces get the attention they deserve, in fine performances by Hannes Minnaar, the Natalon Quartet and the Amstel Sax Quartet. But of course, a film about Ten Holt would not be complete without the beautiful Canto; interpreted here by the Oer Ensemble, the group that gave the very first performance of the piece forty years ago.
Pianist Kees Wieringa is our guide through Ten Holt’s life and oeuvre, explaining what makes the Canto so virtuosic. We also learn more about the man Simeon ten Holt. Who was he? How did he live? What were his motivational drivers and obsessions?