Annette Kruisbrink was born in 1958 in Amsterdam. She learned music at her mother’s knee. As a kid she had piano lessons for a few years and composed a few pieces for this instrument. At the age of twelve she took up the guitar and started playing as an autodidact with Johan B. Kok’s guitar method. When her graduation at high school was die, she decided to study guitar at the Zwolle Conservatory with Pieter van der Staak.
She started composing at an early age on the piano, as a teenager she wrote songs with guitar accompaniment and on the Conservatory, she brought her composition skills at professional level. After her graduation on the guitar she attended the follow-up in composition and many master classes on the subject. With her compositions she often explores other styles, various ensembles and rare instruments like a Concertina and a Carillon.
She covers a wide range with her compositions: from hardcore contemporary to pleasantly modern with at times a wink to traditional forms. Because she, besides being a composer, is also a very active guitarist in solo and ensemble playing, guitar music is tightly rooted in her composition style. She often works on assignment and won various prizes with her compositions. In the meantime, with her over 382 compositions, she is one of the most prolific guitar composers in The Netherlands.
In the meantime, I have become acquainted with her music through the collections Knock before you Enter and Access Permitted and a number of separate compositions. Below you will find a number of recordings from this material.
Quiet Song is a meditative piece with casual pleasant-sounding dissonants. Empty Fridge breathes the atmosphere of a relaxed but swinging bossa. Exit to Nowhere is almost like a folk song from the Andes and has an interesting variation on the theme. Bird Song expresses the huge flocks of starlings in the fall. Daydreamer is a quietly dreaming ballad. Don’t Give Up was for some time a mantra piece for me with a nice crescendo passage. Piece for Peace again brings a South American atmosphere with a little bit of percussion on the guitar. Sketchblog is a remarkable blues song with a pleasant swing.
Tendresse, after all, is the greatest technical challenge of this set with an exploration of serene contemporary sounds.
Recordings
😉 One at a time!