Minimalism is alive and strappingly healthy in 2026, in no small part due to the creative efforts of Erik Hall. This past January, Hall’s Solo Three was released as the culmination of the multi-instrumentalist-composer’s Minimalist trilogy. On April 3, Hall joins with the Metropolis Ensemble and Sandbox Percussion to revisit and expand upon the source of part two in Hall’s trilogy, a piece by noted, if still undersung, Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt. Canto Ostinato is an absolute stunner of a collaborative effort available on LP, CD, and digital from Western Vinyl.
For Canto Ostinato (Simeon ten Holt), which was released by Western Vinyl in February 2023, Erik Hall utilized multitracking as he played grand pianos, electric piano, and organ. That recording proved a resounding success as it hipped many who live outside the Netherlands to the importance of composer Simeon ten Holt.
Born in 1923, Simeon ten Holt died in 2012, leaving behind a substantial body of work, of which Canto Ostinato is his most famous composition. In this case, famous is a relative term, as ten Holt has long been one of Minimalism’s best-kept secrets. Hall’s initial solo recording was clearly an attempt to eradicate this unjust international obscurity.
But first, Hall recorded Music for 18 Musicians (Steve Reich), tackling a celebrated work by one of Minimalism’s most famous composers. Unsurprisingly, this reinvigoration of Reich made a big splash that swept up Canto Ostinato and, more recently, Solo Three, which included another piece by Reich, plus one each by Charlemagne Palestine, Glenn Branca, and Laurie Spiegel.
An obvious component in the trilogy’s appeal is Hall operating solo, recording each instrument live in the studio one at a time and adding to the whole through multitracking, with the finished works strikingly free of gimmickry. Inviting the contributions of the Metropolis Ensemble, a nonet, and Sandbox Percussion, a quartet, to build a fresh version of Canto Ostinato obviously produced a distinct work.
For this recording, the members of the GRAMMY-nominated Metropolis Ensemble are conductor-artistic director Andrew Cyr, saxophonist-flutist David Leon, clarinetist-bass clarinetist Madison Greenstone, and violinists Kristin Lee, Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Pauline Kim, Jennifer Liu, Suliman Tekalli, and Henry Wang. Sandbox Percussion, also GRAMMY-nominated, consists of Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney on marimba and Jonny Allen and Victor Caccese on vibraphone, glockenspiel, and crotales.
Hall is limited to one piano on this recording, an undertaking that is an immense but consistently graceful expansion upon its foundation, a 106-part piece that ten Holt composed for four pianos. Hall’s solo work was already a sharply methodical spreading out of the work.
This reengagement with Canto Ostinato is remarkable from start to finish, at times dynamically breathtaking and at other moments soothing in its assured flow, an altogether deft blossoming anyone enthusiastic over contemporary composition needs to hear. Metropolis Ensemble, Sandbox Percussion, and Erik Hall have realized a work of great beauty beyond any reasonable expectation.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A+
