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INTRODUCTION

Schooled amid the enthusiastic pioneers of the baroque revival of the early seventies, in Holland, and having carried the ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln on my flourishing basso continuo into the eighties, I had acquired, I believe in the detailed understanding of my field, a basic expertise for composing music. When in 1993, I started composing as an extension of my career as conductor and as soloist on the harpsichord and pianoforte, I naturally chose to compose in the musical languages which I love dearest and know most intimately, the baroque and classical. I create intricate compositions, not to ignore, but to honour the splendid and refined heritage of the old masters 1 - its entertaining pantomimes, the semantics of its symbolism, the clarity of its sonorities, the wealth of its spontaneous ornamentation, the swaying rhythms of its dances.

Considering the lasting success of baroque and classical music in our time, as demonstrated on daily radio programmes, I cannot see wihy this art based on beauty and joy, proportion and ingenuity, should not again flourish in creative compositions. In the limited form of a small portrait

ITALIAN CONCERTO in D major, Allegro.  ©Hendrik Bouman, composer / soloist

CD Notebook for Anna I  ©℗ Hendrik Bouman-DASH 2007 2017 //2022

or a ten minute concerto, some of our dearest hopes and loves seem to be crystallised.

My Little Notebook for Anna is dedicated to my Beloved wife, without whose endearing encouragements I would never have approached my full creative scope, contains several of my compositions for harpsichord, and one transcription I made of Rameau's Entrée from Les Boréades.

To complete the challenge I had set myself, the harpsichord compositions are performed on an instrument I designed and built from scratch - an artistically total realisation I believe preceded by the historic example of Pleyel and Clementi, two centuries ago. Also over the years, I have made sketches and cartoons which illustrates humouristically attitudes and sayings of various colleagues and friends in the music world. Several of these ilustrations are included in this booklet.

©Hendrik Bouman 1997 Charlottetown, Canada

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