Jozef van Wissem
Encyclopedia
Jozef van Wissem is a Dutch minimalist composer
and lute
player.
Composer and lutenist Jozef van Wissem is devoted to what he terms “The Liberation of the Lute”. Taking an experimental approach to Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music, his compositions for the instrument have involved a dynamic mix of conceptual, minimalist, classical and improvisational strategies, seamlessly bridging the language of 17th century music with that of the 21st, without compromising the timbre and resonance of traditional lute playing techniques.
Over the last two decades, van Wissem has variously used cut-and-paste tactics, field recordings, free improvisation, and created palindromic compositions by playing pieces forwards and then backwards. The resulting sound world is at once meditative and surprising, new and arcane. Mirror image melodies are formed that step up and then back down seemingly without end, thus eschewing traditional linear progression and climax, instead maintaining a constant level of intensity. This music doesn’t demand concentrated listening, but rather brings the listener into a state of concentrated listening.
His music is uncluttered and direct, with a viscerally hypnotic and emotional impact,delivered with an ascetic intensity reflected both in his Biblical titles and his No Wave influences. An incessantly touring musician, van Wissem’s hypnotic live shows have taken him all over the world. He has records out on Important Records and his own Incunabulum label and has collaborated with James Blackshaw, Keiji Haino and Jim Jarmusch amongst others. Van Wissem studied lute in New york with Pat O’Brien and released a classical lute CD A Rose By Any Other Name consisting of anonymous lute pieces. He lectures on “The Liberation of the Lute” (at Harvard, Wesleyan University, Mills College amongst others) and was commissioned by The National Gallery of London to compose a sound piece to Hans Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. His work is featured more and more in documentaries and feature films and he recently composed pieces for lute and voice for the new Sims Medieval video game'. - from the official website of the artist.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
player.
Composer and lutenist Jozef van Wissem is devoted to what he terms “The Liberation of the Lute”. Taking an experimental approach to Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music, his compositions for the instrument have involved a dynamic mix of conceptual, minimalist, classical and improvisational strategies, seamlessly bridging the language of 17th century music with that of the 21st, without compromising the timbre and resonance of traditional lute playing techniques.
Over the last two decades, van Wissem has variously used cut-and-paste tactics, field recordings, free improvisation, and created palindromic compositions by playing pieces forwards and then backwards. The resulting sound world is at once meditative and surprising, new and arcane. Mirror image melodies are formed that step up and then back down seemingly without end, thus eschewing traditional linear progression and climax, instead maintaining a constant level of intensity. This music doesn’t demand concentrated listening, but rather brings the listener into a state of concentrated listening.
His music is uncluttered and direct, with a viscerally hypnotic and emotional impact,delivered with an ascetic intensity reflected both in his Biblical titles and his No Wave influences. An incessantly touring musician, van Wissem’s hypnotic live shows have taken him all over the world. He has records out on Important Records and his own Incunabulum label and has collaborated with James Blackshaw, Keiji Haino and Jim Jarmusch amongst others. Van Wissem studied lute in New york with Pat O’Brien and released a classical lute CD A Rose By Any Other Name consisting of anonymous lute pieces. He lectures on “The Liberation of the Lute” (at Harvard, Wesleyan University, Mills College amongst others) and was commissioned by The National Gallery of London to compose a sound piece to Hans Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. His work is featured more and more in documentaries and feature films and he recently composed pieces for lute and voice for the new Sims Medieval video game'. - from the official website of the artist.
Discography
- 2000: Jozef van Wissem - Retrograde, A Classical Deconstruction (Persephone 002)
- 2001: Jozef van Wissem - Narcissus Drowning (Persephone 003)
- 2002: Gary Lucas and Jozef van Wissem - Diplopia (BVHaast 0103)
- 2003: Jozef van Wissem - Simulacrum (BVHaast 0104);
- 2004* Tetuzi Akiyama and Jozef van Wissem - Proletarian Drift (BVHaast 0404)
- 2004: Gary Lucas and Jozef Van Wissem - The Universe of Absence (BVHaast 0105); The Wire Tapper 12, Wire Magazine CD compilation; Reduce stress in just over an hour- WFMUWFMUWFMU is a listener-supported, independent community radio station headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting at 91.1 MHz FM, presenting a freeform radio format...
Radio CD compilation - 2005: Lost in the Afternoon - WFMU radio CD compilation; Jozef van Wissem - Objects in Mirror are closer than they appear (BVHaast 0905)
- 2006: Jozef van Wissem - A Rose By Any Other Name, Anonymous Lute Solos Of The Golden Age (Incunabulum 001)
- 2007: Jozef van Wissem and Tetuzi Akiyama - Hymn for a Fallen Angel (Incunabulum 003)
- 2007: Jozef van Wissem - Stations of the Cross (Incunabulum 004)
- 2008: Brethren of the Free Spirit - All Things are from him, through him and in him CD/LP (audioMER 2008)
- 2008: Jozef van Wissem - A Priori ( Incunabulum 009/Audiomer CD/LP)
- 2008: Various 'The Garden of Forking Paths - (Important Records)
- 2008: Brethren of the Free Spirit - The Wolf also shall dwell will the Lamb (Important Records CD/LP)
- 2009: Jozef van Wissem - It Is All That Is Made (Important Records CD)
- 2007: Maurizio Bianchi/MB and Jozef van Wissem - "Das Platinzeitalter" (Incunabulum 002) reissued on Weird Forest as 2lp.(2009)
- 2009: Jozef van Wisssem - Ex Patris (Important Records LP)
- 2010: Jozef van Wissem - Ex Patris (Important Records CD)
- 2011: Jozef van Wissem - "The Joy That Never Ends " ( Important Records CD/LP)