The New Album - For Mattia

THE STORY, THE REVIEWS, WHAT LISTENERS SAY


BUY VINYL
8 tracks, 40 minutes, 180 grams white vinyl in gatefold sleeve

BUY CD

9 tracks, 45 minutes, cd in luxurious digipack

BUY SHEET MUSIC

53 pages, 45 minutes, printed on on 120 grams quality paper



Pianist and composer Douwe Eisenga creates sparkling music for sparkling minds, a hypnotizing mix of rhythm, haunting melodies and compelling lyricism. Honest, down to earth peoples-music. Often subdued and sober with a generous force: the underlying melodies carve themselves into the soul of the listener. 

 

In 2017, Eisenga recorded the eight-minute long For Mattia. He is commissioned to write this piece by the parents of a young lady who chose to end her own life. In this loving composition, he braids in Mattia’s name, and the atmosphere of her favorite music. This moving song without words ends up in 2017 (no. 53) and 2018 (no. 49) in the Heart & Soul List, a list of the 300 most popular classical masterworks according to Dutch radio listeners. 



REVIEWS

All About jazz

...The record holds us captive as if we were gazing on something awesome like a world, but viewed from outside its gravitational pull. So that we can see its every peak and valley and how each becomes the next. Eisenga has crafted a record as spacious as the cosmos....

....a universe stuffed with wonders..... 

....the compositions glitter with a lyricism many vocalists cannot manage. As if Eisenga is playing with light as well as melody. Weaving the two about each other like threads of sound and aether.....  

 

review by James Fleming



TEXTURA

...For Mattia can be seen as a culmination and crystallization of the personal style the Dutch composer...

...as haunting as ever as it advances through its plaintive melodies and lilting rhythms. Lower-register figures provide a firm foundation for gently trilling themes to assert themselves, the material subtly growing in urgency and tension and the merging of right and left hands producing as mesmerizing a dedication as could be imagined....

 

review by Ron Schepper



NAtive DSD

Douwe Eisenga has spent most of his life as a musician composing music for others,  but “For Mattia” featuring his own compositions marks his debut as a recording artist.  The music reminds one of Glass or even Arvo Part in that simple melodies and a certain amount of repetition can evoke a huge amount of feelings.  I listen to this music at night, with the lights dimmed— and I remember things.  And I imagine things.  And I feel things.

 



Heaven MAGAZINE

...Eisenga plays nine beautiful self-written solo piano works. The level remains unusually high for 45 minutes and fascinates and moves over the full length.

While many of today's popular piano pieces are fairly simple, Eisenga's pieces are minimalist, but they are dynamically so cleverly constructed that they derive depth from the emotion they evoke..... 

 

review by Pieter Wijnstekers



HTV

Dutch magazine HTV (Hifi Video Test) has published a 4-page coverstory about the background an the recording of the album:

 

....Douwe Eisenga has - together with the team of TRPTK - delivered wonderful work.....

 

article by John van de Veer



PZC - Interview

...Now there is a beautifully designed album with nine recent piano pieces, including For Mattia, in that characteristic, compelling Eisenga style that leaves virtually no one untouched...

 

interview by Rolf Bosboom

photo by Brendon Heinst



vpro3voor12 - pre release concert

...Eisenga starts with Julia, follows with the beautiful Summit.... It is rarely so quiet in De Spot. You can hear someone whisper...

...Then it's time for masterpiece For Mattia...

...Finally, Carried Away, a matchless piece reminiscent of Einaudi and Tiersen.

review by Loek van der Linde

photo by Nous Davidse



native dsd

...Douwe  Eisenga’s music flows in inevitable motion. Thoughtful and rewarding. 

review by William Dodd



High Fidelity

.....a fantastic combination of grandeur and intimacy, warmth and openness - if you can, buy this album now....

review by Wojciech Pacuta



Music Emotion

....It is a moody and rhythmic composition with repeated motifs that are reminiscent of Keith Jarrett....

 

,,,,fascinating.....you just keep listening to the whole piece.

 

rewarded with a 9

review by Ruud Jonker



MUSICALIFEITEN

...eclectic, emotional music from someone who certainly knows how to fascinate.....excellent recording quality....

review by Jan de Kruiff



OPUS KLASSIEK

....nothing but praise for the piano recording of Douwe Eisenga that was made with great care...

Opus Klassiek praises the recording...not the music. Check the full  review (and leave your comments) 

review by Tjako Fennema



WHAT LISTENERS SAY

...This is (except for Bach) the most moving music I've heard in years...!

 

...Listened. Touched deeply. At that moment I was on the road, I stopped car and watched the video on  on FB.  Only after a full hour I could drive again, realizing what was done with a piece of music. Thanks ... 

 

...So intense. So beautiful. A little masterpiece...

...Just listened to For Mattia for the first time. Seven times in a row ..... Unique beauty with chills over my back and damp eyes. Really very beautiful and my admiration for your is only growing. Gorgeous...

 

...What an absolutely beautiful composition! Simple yet complex in its harmonic structure. Such a tender and beautiful way to memorialize this beautiful girl's life. Your performance brought tears to my eyes, so I can only imagine how this impacted her parents. I am sure Mattia is smiling from her special place in heaven, as well. You have a great gift and I loved this...

 

...Wonderful! I did not know Mattia, of course, but the piece conveyed her character and I felt by the end I had a clear picture of a beautiful human being. I was very moved especially by the ending. A life cut short...

  

...Now I hear it again I'm touched again. What a powerful and sensitive music. I'm impressed and taken by the notes and the rhythm. Really a masterpiece! I think and I hope this will get an international distribution. Full admiration. Beautiful music. Chapeau...


...Your music is unforgettable, so beautiful. I am more and more in love with it... !!


BUY VINYL
8 tracks, 40 minutes, 180 grams white vinyl in gatefold sleeve

BUY CD

9 tracks, 45 minutes, cd in luxurious digipack

BUY SHEET MUSIC

53 pages, 45 minutes, printed on on 120 grams quality paper


Write a comment

Comments: 3
  • #1

    john bygate (Thursday, 22 August 2019 21:02)

    Bought this past weekend in de Drukkerij in Middelburg, this is one of the most beautiful, most enthralling CDs my wife and I have heard in a long time, and we love listening to it over and over again.
    One criticism, I'm sorry to say. I'm not sure what version I bought, but at least it was a CD, although in a book-shaped case and not the normal CD square form. However the information printed inside tells the listener absolutely nothing about the music - only a list of thanks. People who may not know your music would surely want some background information on the contents (as you find on just about every other CD) — and that is most definitely lacking here. I've had to do a lot of online searching to find something out!
    Try to do better next time ..... at least as far as info is concerned!

  • #2

    Douwe (Friday, 23 August 2019 14:13)

    Dear John,
    Thanks you for buying the new album and you nice comments about the music. And yes, you're absolutely right, the package lacks info. Somewhere in the process we decided to skip liner notes, although I don't remember why. In hindsight, that was a very wrong decision and I will certainly do better next time (I hope there will be next time, it's not easy to setup release project like this....).
    best wishes,
    Douwe

  • #3

    john bygate (Friday, 06 September 2019 10:54)

    thanks, Douwe. Just a suggestion - could you not find time to write your liner notes ans then put them on your site so that people can copy them and add them to the cd as they wish?
    best wishes,
    John