Since the early 1980s, Cornelis de Bondt has established himself as a composer who uses ritual power to exorcise the arbitrariness of history. Because of the heavy conceptual content of this tour de force, De Bondts PC sometimes stomping for nights on end, in order to provide the raw material for yet another incantation. As in Dame Blanche, whose title refers not only to the well-known ice cream
… dessert, but also to courtly love from the Middle Ages. De Bondt wrote Dame Blanche for recorder player Walter van Hauwe, who, according to De Bondt, always carries a saw with him, in case the tuning of his flute is too low. Walter van Hauwe is assisted on Dame Blanche's CD recording by conductor Peter Eötvös and the Radio Chamber Orchestra. This excellent CD also contains Die Wahre Art, whose title refers to the famous treatise by C. Ph. E. Bach. The soloist in this work is pianist Gerard Bouwhuis. (HJ)more
