1. Jazz influences in 20th-Century Piano Music.

This program, the content of which is varying constantly, has been performed by Marcel Worms since 1992 in the Netherlands and abroad. It's an anthology of works from the modern-classical repertory, which have been influenced by some degree by jazz. Besides works by famous composers like Strawinsky, Milhaud, Hindemith, Ives and Gershwin also pieces by lesser-known colleagues like Finnissy, Nancarrow, Schulhoff, Rzewski and Antheil are on the program. Transscriptions of solo's by jazzpianists like Bill Evans, Art Tatum and Errol Garner are performed to compare the works by contemporary composers to the originals of their jazz-colleagues.

2. Blues for piano

Marcel Worms is engaged already for a long time in the modern-classical repertory which has been influenced by jazz. Because of the prominent position of the Blues in jazz it seemed an attractive idea to him to commission a number of Dutch composers to write him a Blues or blueslike piece. The first series of Blues was ready by the end of 1996 and was premiered at the BIMHUIS, the foremost jazz stage in Amsterdam. From then on also composers from countries where Marcel Worms gave concerts were invited to write a contribution to the project. A second series of Blues from different countries was premiered in the Icebreaker, Centre for modern music in Amsterdam in December 1997. At this moment some 180 new Blues from about 50 different countries. In almost all of these countries Marcel Worms has performed his bluesprogram. From them one can get an idea of what the Blues means nowadays for the contemporary composer. From the comparison of Blues by composers from different countries the different cultural backgrounds will reveal themselves quite clearly.
Most of the Blues are composed note by note but in some of them the performer is supposed to improvise. This makes the program suitable for the classical concerthall as well as for the Jazzstage. All these concerts were broadcast by radio.
A repertory list of this program can be found elsewhere on this site.
The programs # 1 and # 2 can be combined.

3. The Gershwin Centenary

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of George Gershwin in 1998 Marcel Worms has assembled a program dedicated to this composer. In this program the complete Preludes can be heard (four of them have been published only recently) as well as a transcription for piano solo of An American in Paris and/or the Rhapsody in Blue , Gershwin Arrangements by the English composer Michael Finnissy, a number of arrangements by the composer of his songs and some lesser known works for piano. Furthermore Marcel Worms will give his own interpretation of some Gershwin songs.

4. Vincent van Gogh and the Music of his Time

On the request of theVan Gogh Museum in Amsterdam Marcel Worms put together this program ofworks related in some way or the other to Vincent van Gogh. He performedthis program at the Van Gogh Museum and in the USA on the occasion of twobig exhibitions on Van Gogh in Washington (National Gallery of Art) and Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
The complete program and explanatory notes about the program can be found elsewhere on this site.

5. Mondrian and the Music of his Time

The complete program and explanatory notes about the program can be found elsewhere on this site.
This program has been recorded on cd for Emergo Classics (see: discography).

6. Jean Wiéner - Works for piano

The complete program and explanatory notes about the program can be found elsewhere on this site.
This program has been recorded on cd (see: discography).

7. The Poulenc Centenary (1999)

1999 has been the centenary of the birth the Frenchcomposer Francis Poulenc. Marcel Worms has used the opportunity to puttogether a program with a selection from the large repertory that Poulencwrote for piano solo.
The piano has always been an important instrument for Poulenc, who was a very gifted pianist himself. However his pianoworks cannot be heard very often in the concert hall. The composer himself had a very critical attitude towards his pianoworks. Most of the works he rejected later on: the 'Suite in C' and the 'Improvisations' are notable exceptions. Of course these works will not fail on this Poulenc program, which tries to give a representative idea of an oeuvre which shows all the characteristics and stylistic developments of the composer.

8. 'Picasso - Artist of the century'

Upon the request of the Museum 'Kunsthal Rotterdam' Marcel Worms put together a program made up of pieces which are in some way or the other related to Picasso. The program was for the big Picasso exposition in 1999 in Rotterdam, and has been released on CD on the Dutch label VIA RECORDS.

9. Federico Mompou - Musica Callada

In 2002 it was 15 years since the death of the Catalan composer Federico Mompou on the blessed age of 94.
Actually Mompou's timeless music doesn't need a jubilee year to be performed. Mompou's oeuvre does mainly consist of music for piano and this music is absolutely unique. The works are simple and have a transparant structure, clearly intuitive, not composed according to a system and full of severe Spanish mysticism.
Mompou's 'magnum opus' without any doubt is 'Musica Callada', composed between 1959 and 1967. This cycle, rarely performed, is a work of about 1 hour lenght and is made up of 28 miniatures. In this 'Music of Silence' sound and silence are elements of equal importance, which complement each other in a perfect way. The music is maninly meditative, introvert and austere but at the same time warm and intimate. Mompou is like a diamond cutter, polishing his whole life the same diamant to make it more beautiful all the time. He can be compared for that with the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi who painted the same objects over and over again during his lifetime, trying to express the essence more exactly every time.
The 'Musica Callada' with its strong religious aspect could be considered as a Spanish version of Messiaen's 'Vingt Regards'. The main reason of the fact that this magnificent works is performed so seldom may be the fact that it is absolutely no virtuoso music. What counts is bringing out all the colours, the details, the timing and the building up of tension.
The well-known Dutch poet Rein Bloem wrote poems to each of the 28 pieces. The program can be performed with or without the poems, to be recited by Rein Bloem.
In 2007 Marcel Worms will play a number concerts devoted to Mompou's music on the occassion of the 20th anniversary of the composer's death. As a solo player he'll perform the cycle 'Musica Callada' and he'll play Mompou's chambermusic with an ensemble with Irene Maessen (soprano), Marijke van Kooten (violin), Larissa Groeneveld (cello) en Martin Kaay (guitar)

10. Tangos for Piano

In this program Tangos can be heard from Latin-America and Tangos by European composers which were composed when the Tango conquered Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. The piano has been an important instrument almost from the beginning of the Tango and many great names from the history of Tango like Osvaldo Pugliese and Horacio Salgan were, apart from being bandleader, pianists as well. Marcel Worms performed this program in the Netherlands, China and Argentina.
A repertory list of this program can be found elsewhere on this site.

11. Composers and their national music

We live in an age in which borders are fading. The world is getting smaller thanks to the blessings of increased mobility and the internet, and communication is easier than ever. With these blessings also come the dangers of decreased diversification and of losing our cultural identity.
One aspect of this globalisation is that in music the cultural and geographical background of the composers often cannot be heard clearly anymore. In the past the situation was different. Many composers integrated traditional music from their culture, their country or region into their compositions. Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart used popular dances from folkmusic. Chopin expressed his nostalgia for Poland in the Mazurkas, for Liszt Hungarian gypsy music was a source of inspiration and Bártok travelled through Eastern Europe with a primitive recording device to record original popular music which he incorporated generously in his own works.
For this program music of 4 European composers has been chosen, each of them representing one of the points of the compass: Franz Schubert (west), Leos Janácek (east) , Edvard Grieg (north) and Federico Mompou (south).

A repertory list of this program can be found elsewhere on this site.

12. Jewish Composers in and around the Second World War

The second world war and the period before has affected jewish composers without any exception. Some could go into hiding or survived the concentration camps. Many however were not so fortunate and were murdered not only as a person but as a composer as well. Much of their music fortunately has been preserved and recently there is an increasing interest in their works.
In this program music will be performed by jewish composers who have been active in and around the Second World War. A number of works has been composed while the author stayed in a camp. In some of the compositions the tragic circumstances under which they were written are reflected clearly but it's striking to conclude that often a lighter, nearly optimistic mood is audible as well. The capacity of artist to maintain their spiritual power in such a situation is surprising and hopeful.

On the program are works by the Dutch composer Leo Smit (Deux hommages, Suite), Nico Richter (the compact and modernistic sonatine from 1935), Viktor Ullmann (second Pianosonata), Gideon Klein (the Pianosonata, remeniscent of the much more well-known Sonata by Alban Berg), Erwin Schulhoff ( the swinging 'Suite dansante en jazz') and Karel Berman ( de moving 'Terezin Suite').
A comparable program for flute and piano is performed by Marcel Worms with flutist Eleonore Pameijer with works by Leo Smit, Erwin Schulhoff, Dick Kattenburg and Rosy Wertheim.

13. Spanish pianomusic featuring Mompou and Nin-Culmell

Thinking of spanish pianomusic from the first half of the 20th century most people will mention composers like Albeniz, de Falla, Granados and Turina. It’s surprising that two spanish composers, whose music I love very much, never became that famous: Federico Mompou (1893 - 1987) and Joaquin Nin-Culmell (1908 -2004).
Mompou’s music I’m playing allready for a long time and especially in 2007, the 20th anniversay of the composers death in 1987.
Mompou’s music speaks an almost magical language, that evokes with minimal means a special, mystical world. Catalonian folkmusic, chiming and religious elements do play an important part in this universe.
The composer Joaquin Nin-Culmell was close friends with Mompou. His father was the Cuban composer Joaquin Nin, his spanish mother was a singer. Nin-Culmell led a cosmopolitan life and has been living in Spain, France and the United States. His music is more earthly and energetic than the one Mompou composed. Spanish and cuban folkmusic is omnipresent in it. His 4 volumes of Tonadas, with their canciones and bailes (songs and dances), give a caleidoscopic image of the various regions of Spain, a kind of alternative Iberia, less virtuoso, but more primitive and rough. In the beginning of 2008 I’ll record the Tonadas on CD. The Cuban folkmusic has been eleborated by Nin-Culmell especially in his 12 Cuban Dances.
In 2008 it will be 100 years ago that Nin-Culmell was born: an ideal occasion to bring this music alive again and give it the attention it deserves.
In this program also works by more well-known spanish composers can be performed, like Albeniz, Granados and de Falla.