Ton de Leeuw was born on the 16^th of November, 1926 in Rotterdam of the Netherlands. The Dutch born composer began composition lessons with Henk Badings between 1947 and 1949. He studied with Olivier Messiaen and Thomas de Hartmann in Paris between 1949 and 1950 and also completed ethnomusicological studies with Jaap Kunst at the University of Amsterdam until 1954. He was appointed music director of the Netherlands Radio Union between 1954 and 1959. This appointment served as a good entrance into the electronic music. Some of his earlier works were completed at the Studio of the Netherlands Radio Union. Study, composed in 1957 is a work influenced by the Musique Concrète school of Paris. During the 1950's his position as director enabled him to compose several electroacoustic works. This became more difficult in the 1960's as his access to the necessary lab space was curtailed. Study was composed during De Leeuw's early flirtation with serial music. In the work, he divides the octave into 31 separate pitches. The works title refers to the experimental nature of the piece. De Leeuw was attempting to create new sound structures using previously impossible divisions between pitch. He also used a method of slow glissandi (or sliding) to gradually develop the musical evolution of the work. Like much of the early electronic experimentation, De Leeuw's work sounds dated, nevertheless his experimentation with microtonality is interesting.

1957 - Study - Electronic Work

In 1959, De Leeuw was appointed professor of composition and electronic music at the Amsterdam (Sweelinck) Conservatory ,a post he would hold until 1986. During this time, De Leeuw began to compose more traditional instrumental works. His interest in serial composition continued with his 1960 work, Mouvements rétrogrades premiered in this 1960 recording with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by George Szell. The recording quality here is not so good, but the lyrical quality of his composition is extremely interesting. De Leeuw was able to create a very human quality in his serial works, something that is often void in this composition type. There seem to be still some hints at late traditional tonality here.

1960 - Mouvements rétrogrades - George Szell - Concertgebouw Orchestra

In 1961, Ton De Leeuw received a grant from the Dutch government to study classical Indian music. He began his work first in India and then lectured throughout the world on the relationship between Eastern and Western Music, journeying to Hong Kong, Australia, the Soviet Union, the United States and many European Nations amongst others. Returning to Amsterdam in 1963, he composed Men go their ways in 1964 for solo piano. It is divided into 5 movements, all untitled. The work concerns the possibility that the performer take away individual interpretation in favour of allowing the listeners to interpret the work by themselves, without being manipulated by the performer. As De Leeuw wrote:

"To not interfere is one of the most difficult tasks that an interpreter can take upon himself."

The work was dedicated to the composer Iannis Xenakis who was as de Leeuw remarked "going his own way". The work is based on de Leeuw's Haiku:

Morning Haze

Men go their ways (1964) - Ivo Janssen - pno.

In 1966, de Leeuw completed his eight year work, Spatial Music I. It was a work that was meant to change the way we listen to an orchestra and reflects on the idea of space and sound. The work has no master score as improvisation is one of the major themes of the work. It is nevertheless not entirely aleatoric for each instrumentalist has a sonic guide for the work. The parts are not divided by instrument but by the location in which the instrumentalist is positioned. The instrumentalists are also scattered amongst the audience, closing the boundaries between performer and listener. Because the emphasis is placed on where the sound comes from rather than what the sound is, the table is turned on traditional musical structure. The work becomes centred around the concept of where then the what.

The Radio Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands conducted by Paul Hupperts.

Throughout the late 60's and early 70's de Leeuw became more recognised in Europe for his musical style. He was awarded several Dutch prizes for his work and became director and then artistic director of the Amsterdam Conservatory between 1971 and 1973. In 1974, de Leeuw composed Mo-Do a work for harpsichord. De Leeuw wrote:

The title MO-DO means modal music surroundingthe tonal centre "do". The piece consists of various sections, each of which conveys a number of modal aspects, such as the use of melodic or rhythmic patterns within the context of an ever-recurring fixed framwork, or the emphasis of various "moods". This concept of modality, as a synthesis of musicla and extra-musical features goes back to the great modal traditions of Europe and Asia."

His statement reflects his interest in the common bonds between west and east.

The harpsichord is an interesting way of expressing this. The harpsichords sonic quality gives this an almost electronic feel. There is a sense that the work was created using punch cards placed through an old massive computer.

MO-DO - Vivienne Spiteri (harpsichord)

In 1981, de Leeuw was guest professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In later life, his work would become more inward looking. He felt closer to the music of Asia than western music. He wrote:

"What I miss in Western musical life is the very thing that still exists in the East: that the performance of music is so intertwined with your entire personality, that one is so intensively and for such a long time involved with it that it penetrates much deeper than in the Western system of production , where you are only a good musician if you can perform something spotlessly at any given moment."

The quieter inward music is reflected in his work for solo guitar written in 1984 entitled Interlude. There is no sense of traditional tonality, but the work is quite peaceful. The work's title reflects the period in which he wrote it (between two larger works). It is divided into seven short sections. There is a most developed sense of peace here. The third section uses the technique of striking the string with a pitch fork creating a third haunting pitch. The work is extremely intimate, not in any way suited to a performance in a hall. Here it is beautifully performed by the guitarist, Wim Hoogewerf.

Interlude - Wim Hoogewerf (guitar)