Ensemble Gending – Ton de Leeuw, Barbara Woof, Paul Termos, Will Eisma & Armeno Alberts

The longest composition on this album, Gending, existed before the ensemble of the same name. To be exact, this great contribution to new gamelan music by one of the most revered Dutch composers of the 20th Century, Ton de Leeuw, gave birth to the collective.
As you may know, de Leeuw was as much inspired by Asian philosophy and music concepts as his British colleague Jonathan Harvey. Coming to think of it, I wonder if the two ever met (Harvey was born 13 years later). I’m currently trying to find evidence of a possible connection between them, but haven’t found it as yet.
Gending, subtitled “A Western Hommage to the musicians of the gamelan” was written in 1975 on request of the Fonds voor Scheppende Toonkunst (=app. Fund for Creative Music). It was meant to be performed on the traditional instruments belonging to the collection of the Tropical Museum Amsterdam.
It turned out that Gending, significantly diverging from the Indonesian way, could not be adequately performed on these instruments; nor was the traditionally trained group of performers related to the museum fully capable of playing the piece. It was not until 1984, therefore, that professional performers and composers were attracted in order to play it as De Leeuw had meant it to be played. After repeated performances, the composers/players in question started to create their own compositions of new gamelan music…and the Ensemble Gending was born!
Up to this day, the Ensemble commissions various composers around the world to create new forms of gamelan music. For some of them – Will Eisma and Armeno Alberts, for example - this implied the use of electronics, computers and tapes.

Tracks:

01. Barbara Woof - Soundings [0:09:56.72]
02. Paul Termos - Kendang [0:14:52.25]
03. Ton de Leeuw - Gending [0:22:17.48]
04. Will Eisma - Mawar Jiwa [0:12:13.45]
05. Armeno Alberts - Haké [0:09:41.60]

Performers:

Ensemble Gending – Jurrien Sligter