copyright Anneke Kloen

Annette Kruisbrink (1958) studied classical guitar with guitar player and composer Pieter van der Staak and studied composition with, among others, Alex Manassen at the academy of music in Zwolle. Though she works as a concert musican and educator, she has already written more than 70 compositions. She has won international prizes for her compositions and her work is internationally published. The composition 'Dreamtime' (1997) was, like Kuwahara's work 'The Song of the Japanese Autumn,' originally written for mandolin orchestra and can also be regarded as a narrative piece of music. 'Dreamtime' is a fusion of dreams, the composer said. On one hand there are the hurried Western people who do not consider dreams, however different they may be, as important. On the other hand there is the Aboriginals' world in which dreams are directly connected with life and the hereafter. This is audible in the atmosphere in the guitar part and the unruly rhythm in the bass. The mandolins depict agitation by playing tremolos and arpeggios. Repeated notes and loud 'Bartok-pizzicatos' cause great contrast, especially in the centre part. Gradually, a slumbering melody comes into being and sleep returns with the same arpeggios the guitars and mandolins played in the opening phrase. A dialogue, symbolized by pizzicatos in the bass and percussion leads in the other instruments, marks the mergion of both cultures. By way of the soft glissandos and scattered ending that follows, deepest sleep is achieved: dreamtime.

Alex Timmerman ©2000

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