Reinbert de Leeuw
Reinbert de Leeuw established a reputation as one of the most eloquent and persuasive conductors of contemporary music in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He became well known in the 1970s for his interpretations of the piano music of Satie but then focused his energies largely on conducting the works of contemporary composers, particularly mavericks who bucked the tradition of serialism that dominated the new music scene for nearly half a century following the Second World War.
De Leeuw was born on September 8, 1939, in Amsterdam. He studied piano and theory at the Amsterdam Conservatory and composition at The Hague Conservatory. As a student, he was interested in new and experimental music. He was one of the founders of the Dutch Charles Ives Society, and in 1969, he wrote a biography of Ives with poet J. Bernlef. In 1974, de Leeuw founded the Schoenberg Ensemble, based in The Hague, which specialized not only in the composers of the Second Viennese School but a broader repertoire ranging from the late 19th into the 21st centuries. The group performed and recorded so extensively with another new music ensemble, the ASKO Ensemble, that the two officially merged, and de Leeuw served as principal conductor. He was a guest conductor at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the RIAS-Kammerchor, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, and the Netherlands Opera. From 1994-1998, he was the artistic director of the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, and he served as the artistic advisor for contemporary music for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In his mature career, de Leeuw focused almost exclusively on works ranging from the early modern period through the contemporary. He was most closely associated with the music of Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, and Louis Andriessen. Each of the three composers employed musical languages of considerable complexity and sophistication that were notoriously difficult to perform, but their music was notable for an expressivity and directness of communication that was uncommon in an era when the majority of new music was considered "difficult" by audiences. De Leeuw's grounded understanding of distinctive idioms, and his commanding interpretations, made his performances of their music particularly riveting. As a pianist, he recorded works by Satie, Bartók, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Ustvolskaya, Messiaen, and Górecki, as well as non-Europeans with a strong streak of individualism, including Ruth Crawford Seeger, George Antheil, Henry Brant, Steve Reich, Percy Grainger, and Claude Vivier.
De Leeuw was most active as a composer during the 1960s and '70s. He wrote several orchestral pieces, chamber music, and an opera, Reconstructie, based on the life of Che Guevara, written in collaboration with Andriessen, Misha Mengelberg, Peter Schat, and Jan van Vlijmen. In 2003, de Leeuw wrote Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, a radically free reimagining of 21 lieder by Schubert and Schumann, for singer and orchestra. In 2013, he wrote Der nächtliche Wanderer, a symphonic poem for orchestra. De Leeuw died in Amsterdam on February 14, 2020.
© Stephen Eddins /TiVo
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Der Nächtliche Wanderer | Abschied
Reinbert de Leeuw, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Edo de Waart
Klassiek - Released by Challenge Classics on 2 jun. 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vienna : Fin de Siècle (Webern, Berg, Schönberg, Mahler...)
Barbara Hannigan, Reinbert de Leeuw
Liederen (Duitsland) - Released by Alpha Classics on 24 aug. 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
György Kurtág: Complete Works For Ensemble And Choir
Asko/Schönberg, Netherlands Radio Choir, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by ECM New Series on 28 apr. 2017
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Satie: Gnossiennes; Gymnopédies; Ogives; Trois Sarabandes; Petite ouverture à danser.
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berg & Zemlinsky : Lieder (Arr. for Chamber Orchestra)
Katrien Baerts, Het Collectief, Reinbert de Leeuw
Liederen (Duitsland) - Released by Zig-Zag Territoires on 1 jan. 1978
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Via Crucis
Collegium Vocale Gent, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Alpha Classics on 1 mrt. 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Janáček: Říkadla
Collegium Vocale Gent, Het Collectief, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Alpha Classics on 13 nov. 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps
Vera Beths, Anner Bylsma, George Pieterson, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Sacred Choral Works
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 12 mei 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kammersymphonie │ Symphony No. 6
Asko Schönberg, Reinbert de Leeuw, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, James Gaffigan
Klassiek - Released by Attacca on 18 feb. 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Satie: The Early Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Satie: Gymnopédies; Gnossiennes
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best Of Erik Satie
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (Arranged for Small Orchestra)
Lucile Richardot, Yves Saelens, Het Collectief, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Alpha Classics on 11 sep. 2020
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
Barbara Sukowa, Schönberg Ensemble, Reinbert de Leeuw
Liederen - Released by Winter & Winter on 13 jun. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivier: Lonely Child; Prologue pour un Marco Polo; Bouchara; Zipangu
Reinbert de Leeuw, Schönberg Ensemble, Asko Ensemble
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jul. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Selection - Reinbert de Leeuw plays Satie
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 9 dec. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time; Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum
Vera Beths, George Pieterson, Reinbert de Leeuw, Anner Bylsma, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bernard Haitink
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Liszt: Via Crucis
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Reinbert de Leeuw
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ustvolskaya: Compositions I, II & III
Reinbert de Leeuw, Schönberg Ensemble
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo