The Dutch composer Louis Andriessen (b. 1939) may have embraced minimalism as the fundamental feature of his mature musical language but his personal brand of it is not for the faint-hearted. There is little trace of the laid-back, hypnotic gentleness of the likes of Adams, Glass or Reich and some may find Andriessen's no-holds-barred grab-you-by-the-throat directness off-putting. Others will find it exhilarating, as do I.
Andriessen's stylistic antecedents here are 1920s Hindemith and Weill, Stravinsky, Bachian polyphony, rock and jazz. This heady mix is particularly apposite in De Stijl (''Style''), composed in 1984-5 and later incorporated into his abstract opera De Materie (''Matter'', 1989). De Stijl is named after the magazine co-founded by Piet Mondriaan who is the central figure in Andriessen's piece, the artist was especially keen on jazz. Here and in M is for Man, Music, Mozart the hard-hitting thrust and momentum of Andriessen's music never slackens and the composer exhibits considerable skill in avoiding restlessness. The latter work was written in 1991 in collaboration with the film director Peter Greenaway for BBC2. There is greater variety of mood and texture than in De Stijl and its seven sections alternate song with instrumental music. Divorced from Greenaway's exuberantly provocative images, M is for Man, Music, Mozart creates a rather meditative impression and proves a viable concert work unlike many film-originated scores. Performance and recording are stunning, and duration is not here an issue as with Elektra's earlier release of De Tijd (3/94). Recommended with enthusiasm.'