With George Pieterson, music life loses another coryphée

Last Sunday, 24 April, clarinetist George Pieterson died at his home in Amsterdam, aged 74. 'George was an iconic player with a big musical heart,' says his former student Frank van den Brink. 'He invariably went full steam ahead and whichever recording you listen to, his playing is always remarkable. You didn't necessarily have to agree with his vision, but every performance was an artistic statement. As a person, too, he was a person of extremes, sometimes extremely jovial, other times dejected and depressed; there was simply never a dull moment.'

George Pieterson studied clarinet with his uncle Jos d'Hondt and became second clarinettist with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra when he was eighteen, before becoming first clarinettist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1975, after positions with the Gelders Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He would stay there until his retirement in 2004, a departure that weighed heavily on him, especially as a muscular dystrophy meant he could barely play. He also soon gave up his teaching practice after this.

Gifted chamber musician

Pieterson was also a gifted chamber musician. As early as the late 1950s at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, for instance, he formed the Aulos Quintet, together with flautist Martine Bakker, oboist Edo de Waart, bassoonist Joep Terweij and horn player Jaap Verhaar. The student ensemble was under the tutelage of Thom de Klerk and played mainly twentieth-century music, as well as works by classical masters. At De Klerk's instigation, the quintet was expanded into a tentet. This formed the basis of the still flourishing Nederlands Blazers Ensemble in 1961, which was the first to make the news public, via an obituary.

At the Muzieklyceum, Pieterson also learned Reinbert de Leeuw and Vera Beths, with whom he performed regularly from 1972 in the Rondom series programmed by De Leeuw. This presented exclusively 20th-century music, with the renowned Serenade by Arnold Schoenberg. The now also deceased baritone Lieuwe Visser took the singing part.

From this successful concert series, the Rondom Quartet was formed in 1977, with Pieterson on clarinet, Vera Beths on violin, Anner Bijlsma on cello and Reinbert de Leeuw at the piano. This unusual line-up is based on the Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Olivier Messiaen, which would become their body piece. In 1980, the foursome recorded this composition for the Harlekijn record label. The recording set an international standard and is still considered a benchmark.

The Rondom Kwartet performed all over the world, but also played every imaginable corner of the Netherlands. Pieterson could tell a tasty story about this: 'If we had to perform on Sunday morning in cultural centre De Roestbak in Almere, but there wasn't a chicken in the street and the few people you met had no idea where that was. We were bound to get a good laugh.'

On his retirement from the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2004, Pieterson said: 'Forty-five years of service I have now completed. I look back on that long time with incredible pleasure. There were wonderful ups but unfortunately also unpleasant downs. Like when I was diagnosed with cancer and became terribly ill from therapy. Something like that affects you deeply. I didn't go outside anymore, didn't answer the phone, ate tinned food just to avoid shopping. But when I reached a low point mentally, I picked up my clarinet again one day and started playing right through my depression. Then it turned out that music allowed me to develop the strength to come back.'

Unfortunately, he fell ill again and this time his instrument offered no solace. With George Pieterson, our country loses yet another musical coryphée. - One small consolation: his characterful playing has been recorded on many records and CDs.

Tip: on Wednesday 4 May, Pieterson can be heard on my programme Panorama the Lion on the Concertzender. I play a live recording of the clarinet solo 'Abîme des Oiseaux' from Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps.