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Wim Mertens
Wim Mertens
Background information
Born	14 May 1953 (age 71); Neerpelt, Belgium
Genres	New Music, avant-garde, contemporary classical
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instrument(s)	Piano, keyboards
Labels	WimMertensMusic, Windham Hill
Website	www.wimmertens.com

Wim Mertens (Dutch pronunciation: [ʋɪˈmɛrtəns]; born 14 May 1953) is a Flemish Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.

Life and work

Mertens was born in Neerpelt, Belgium. He studied social and political science at the University of Leuven (graduating in 1975) and musicology at Ghent University; he also studied music theory and piano at the Ghent Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

In 1978, he became a producer at the BRT (Belgian Radio and Television, now called Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep). For Radio 2 (Radio Brabant) he produced concerts by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Urban Sax and others, and hosted a program called Funky Town together with Gust De Meyer (with whom he recorded the experimental album For Amusement Only).

Known primarily as a composer since the early 1980s, Mertens began developing a reputation after releasing "Struggle for Pleasure", under the name of his early ensemble Soft Verdict, and for "Maximizing the Audience", which was composed for Jan Fabre's play The Power of Theatrical Madness, which premiered in 1984 in Venice, Italy.

Mertens' style has continually evolved during the course of his prolific career, starting from downright experimental and avant-garde, always gravitating around minimalism, usually, however, preserving a melodic foundation to the forays that he makes into the worlds that he is exploring. His compositional quality has often overweighted the "labelling issue" and reached wider audiences although stemming from a far-from-mainstream musical context (see section In popular culture). One can follow three separate threads of musical styles throughout his work:

Compositions for ensemble, perhaps his most accessible and "commercial" material;
Solo piano and voice compositions, which features haunting keyboard melodies accompanied by Mertens' unique high-pitched tenor voice singing in an invented, personal language; and
Experimental minimalist "cycles" for single, dual, and sometimes more instruments.

Mertens has released more than 60 albums to date, the majority of which were issued by Les Disques du Crépuscule from 1980 until 2004. Mertens also produced a number of Crépuscule releases and consulted with the label on its choice of works by contemporary composers such as Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, and Glenn Branca. Mertens also curated a series of releases for a Crépuscle imprint, Lome Armé, that featured works from the classical era as well as contemporary jazz.

In August 2007 Mertens signed a contract with EMI Classics (now Warner Classics) for his entire catalog.^[1] The label re-released his entire back-catalog beginning in January 2008. EMI Music Belgium also released Mertens' new work, beginning with the 9-track album Receptacle on 24 September 2007. For this album Mertens decided to work with an orchestra consisting of only women, 17 in total. It is not the first time that Mertens worked with EMI. Already in 1999, Mertens released the soundtrack to the Paul Cox film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien via EMI Classics.

Mertens is the author of American Minimal Music,^[2] which looks at the school of American repetitive music and the work of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass.

Discography

1982 – For Amusement Only – The Sound of Pinball Machines (full album)
1982 – Vergessen (full album)
1983 – Struggle for Pleasure* (album)
1984 – A Visiting Card (EP album)
1985 – Usura* (full album)
1985 – Maximizing the Audience (album)
1986 – Close Cover
1986 – A Man of no Fortune, and with a Name to Come
1986 – Instrumental Songs
1987 – Educes Me**
1987 – The Belly of an Architect
1988 – Whisper Me
1988 – After Virtue
1989 – Motives for Writing
1990 – No Testament
1990 – Play for Me [Compilation box)
1991 – Alle Dinghe - pt. I: Sources of Sleeplessness
1991 – Alle Dinghe - pt. II: Vita Brevis
1991 – Alle Dinghe - pt. III: Alle Dinghe
1991 – Stratégie De La Rupture
1991 – Hufhuf [single taken from Stratégie de la Rupture with ***Previously Unreleased Track(s)
1992 – Houfnice
1992 – Retrospectives - vol. 1
1992 – Shot and Echo
1993 – A Sense of Place
1994 – Epic That Never Was (a live recording in Lisbon)
1994 – Gave van Niets - promo only
1994 – Gave van Niets - pt. I: You'll Never be Me
1994 – Gave van Niets - Part II: Divided Loyalties
1994 – Gave van Niets - pt. III: Gave van Niets
1994 – Gave van Niets - pt. IV: Reculer pour Mieux Sauter
1995 – Jeremiades
1996 – Entre Dos Mares
1996 – Lisa
1996 – Jardin Clos
1996 – Piano & Voice
1997 – Sin Embargo
1997 – Best of
1998 – In 3 or 4 Days (single taken from Integer Valor]
1998 – Integer Valor
1998 – Integer Valor - integral
1998 – And Bring You Back
1999 – Father Damien
1999 – Integer Valor – Intégrale
1999 – Kere Weerom - pt. I: Poema
1999 – Kere Weerom - pt. II: Kere Weerom
1999 – Kere Weerom - pt. III: Decorum
2000 – If I Can
2000 – Der Heisse Brei
2001 – At Home – Not at Home
2001 – Aren Lezen - promo only
2001 – Aren Lezen - pt. I: If Five is Part of Ten
2001 – Aren Lezen - pt. II: Aren Lezen
2001 – Aren Lezen - pt. III: Kaosmos
2001 – Aren Lezen - pt. IV: aRe
2002 – Years without History - vol. 1 – Moins de Mètre, Assez de Rythme
2002 – Years without History - vol. 2 – In the Absence of Hindrance
2002 – Years without History - vol. 3 – Cave Musicam
2002 – Wim Mertens Moment
2003 – Years without History - vol. 4 – No Yet, no Longer
2003 – Skopos
2004 – Years without History - vol. 5 – With no Need for Seeds
2004 – Shot and Echo
2005 – Un Respiro
2006 – Partes Extra Partes
2007 – Receptacle
2008 – Platinum Collection
2008 – l'Heure du loup
2008 – Years without History - vol. 1–6 (vol. 6 is only available at this set)
2008 – Years without History - vol. 7: Nosotros
2009 – Music and Film (3-CD set ]
2009 – The World Tout Court
2009 – QUA (37-CD reissue set of the extended cycle works Alle Dinghe, Gave van Niets, Kere Weerom and Aren Lezen)
2010 – Zee versus Zed
2011 – Series of Ands/Immediate Givens (2-CD double album)
2011 – Open Continuum/Tenerife Symphony Orchestra (OST) (2-CD + 1-DVD)
2012 – *Struggle for Pleasure
- Double Entendre: 1-CD reissue with 2 albums on one CD (3-CD set).
2012 – A Starry Wisdom
2012 – When Tool met Wood
2015 – Charaktersketch
2016 – What are we, locks, to do?
2016 – Dust of Truths
2017 – Cran aux Œufs
2017 - Nature's Largess (live)
2018 – That Which is Not
2019 - Certain Nuances Excepted (live)
2019 - Inescapable (4-CD compilation)
2020 - The Gaze of the West
2022 - Heroides
2023 - Voice of the Living
2024 - Ranges of Robustness

References

^ B. Van Isacker (9 April 2007). "Wim Mertens signs with EMI and set to release entire back-catalogue". Side-Line Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013.
^ Mertens, Wim (1983). American Minimal Music. Translated by J. Hautekiet. Preface by Michael Nyman. London: Kahn & Averill; White Plains, New York: Pro/Am Music Resources Inc. First published in Belgium in 1980. ISBN 1-871082-00-5; ISBN 0-912483-15-6.