Annotations
1
Keer (1988) was composed upon commission for the 100th anniversary of the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Recorded live by NPS Radio on May 20, 1990, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Producer: Robert Nasveld
Recording engineer: R. Heerschop

2
Dans van de malic matrijzen (1976-78)
Comissioned by the Johan Wagenaar Foundation
Recorded live on December 16, 1990
Recording producer: Jean-Marie Geijsen
Editing producer: Dick Lucas

3
Passevite (1994)
Dedicated to the Schönberg Ensemble
Commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Recorded on May 17, 1997 @ the Muziekcentrum Vredenburg by Data Studio
Recording producer: Ron Ford
Recording engineer: Dick Lucas

4
Bruuks (1985)
Dedicated to the Asko Ensemble
Composed with financial support of the Fund for the Creation of Music
Recorded live in March 1987 @ Paradiso Amsterdam
Recording producer: J.M. geijsen
Editing producer: Dick Lucas

5
Verstelwerk (1996)
Dedicated to Peter van Bergen, Gerard Bouwhuis and Paul Koek
Commissioned by Südwestfunk for the Donaueschinger Musiktage 1996
Recorded live by NPS Radio on December 13, 1997 @ Muziekcentrum Vredenburg
Producer: Marjolein de Moor
Recording producer : Simon Schouten
Recording engineer: Gert Altena

The Further Adventures of Guus Janssen
What could be more Dutch than the name Guus Janssen? Guus, that´s from the comic-strip characters Guus Gelug (lucky nephew of Donald Duck) and Guus Slim; and Janssen, that is half of the double-barrelled team of detectives Janssen & Jansen (in the English-speaking world known as Thomson & Thompson) from ´The Adventures of Tintin´.
´The Adventures of Guus Janssen´ would have been a perfect title for (…) this CD (…) with Inspector Janssen reporting from chamber music-land, documenting his vicissitudes in the realm of mid-sized ensembles and orchestras. There are enough stylistic reasons to justify a comparison between the work of Guus Janssen and serious cartoon art. In graphic precision and transparency, his music is akin to the so-called ´clear line´ of the Hergé school, while the behaviour of the lead character, that is to say the man who explores sounds and puts them into motion, shows a striking similarity to Tom Puss, Kwik & Flupke, Adhemar and, of course, Tintin himself. Janssen also combines an open mind with an investigative spirit. (…) The fact that he is the least professional amongst the academically-trained composers, yet in the world of improvised music is referred to as ´the professor´, can be explained. Janssen the pianist improvised with the constructive self-consciousness of a composer, while he composed with the ad hoc strategies of an improviser. He is a composer of ´in-between´ music. (…) In principle everything can become musical material and thus a subject for compositional consideration, whether it is a genre, a historic jazz pianist or a musical scale. It is the nature of that consideration that Janssen shows who he is and where he stands.

Elmer Schönberger
Translation: Jonathan Reeder