AMSTERDAM PIANO QUARTET

Amsterdam Piano Quartet
I. Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps (arr. Maarten Bon) •
C. Debussy: Jeux (arr. Maarten Bon)

 YOKO ABE
born in Japan, studied first with Misao Iwasaki and later at the University of Fine Arts in Tokyo. She continued her study of the piano at the State College of Music in Munich with professor Erik Then-Bergh, then in the Hague (Netherlands) with Theo Bruins to prepare her present repertoire. She performed and performs regularly in Europe and Japan. She founded the Hato-ensemble in the Netherlands (the word Hato is a combination of Haarlem and Tokyo, but it means “dove” in Japanese and is the symbol of peace and brotherhood between people of different cultures). Recently she performed the Dutch premiere of “Le Vitrail et les Oiseaux” by the recently deceased French composer Olivier Messiaen.
MAARTEN BON
was born in Amsterdam in 1933. He studied piano at the Music Lyceum with Theo Bruins and Jaap Spaanderman. He then studied vocal accompaniment with the French singer and teacher Noëmie Perugia in Paris. Back in Holland he took lessons in composition from Kees van Baaren. He is permanent pianist for the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and, in addition to his career as performing musician, also works as a composer. In 1983, his arrangement of “Le Sacre du Printemps” was officially approved by Stravinsky’s heirs and the publisher of his most distinguished works, on the understanding that he alone performs the arrangement.
GERARD BOUWHUIS
was born in The Hague in 1954 and studied at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague with Geoffrey Madge. He won the Cuyper prize and achieved his diploma as piano soloist. He was involved in the group Hoketus from its founding. For several years he and Cees van Zeeland have formed a piano duo to be heard on Channel Classics CCS 4592 with music from Messiaen, Ives and Van Zeeland. He arranged “De Staat” by Louis Andriessen for two pianos.
SEPP GROTENHUIS
is an alumnus from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (U.S.A.) where he studied with Gary Graffman and Leon Fleisher, and from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied with Else Krijgsman. He made his first appearance in New York in 1986, in Carnegie Recital Hall. With Ellen Corver, Sepp Grotenhuis forms a piano duo which was founded in 1979. For Channel Classics they recorded Mozart’s Double Concerto in E flat KV. 365 with the Amsterdam Mozart Players (CCS 1190)

 (...) Transcribing the works for four pianos, while still not quite capturing all the notes, does make for a certain clarity of textures in places which no orchestral performance will ever achieves. Which is the delight of piano transcriptions; and these are some of the pianist, and most enjoyable, have ever heard. Recommended.
Canadian Music Review, March 1994
(...) Je mist het orkest helemaal niet! Sterker nog, de structuren, de akkoordenreeksen, de harmonie, het is allemaal veel makkelijker te volgen. (...)
(...) Wat moet het een genot zijn om deze bewerking met z’n vieren te lijf te gaan. Bom is er bewonderenswaardig in geslaagd om de inzetten gelijk te krijgen.(...)
(...) Als de grote namen ooit de bewerkte Sacre aan willen pakken, dan vinden ze in deze uitvoering van het sublieme Amsterdams Piano Quartet een mijlpaal en een glanzend voorbeeld. De vier vleugels klinken voorbeeldig, producer C. Jared Sacks heeft andermaal een opname van de bovenste plank op zijn naam staan.
Entr’acte, February 1994.
(...) Het Amsterdams Piano Quartet zorgt voor een fascinerende, soms bezeten uitvoering.
(...) Je komt er niet gauw van los.
Luister, May 1993
(...) Deze bewerking verdient het gewoon om officieel te worden erkend, zodat ook andere interessante combinaties van pianisten zich hieraan kunnen wagen (...)
Oor, April 1993
(...) deze fantastische muziek wer prachtig vastgelegd op CD.
Pianowereld, July 1996