De Metamorfose van Escher
Paul M. van Brugge
" Through limitations and things uncovered in an interactive experience, the original music by Paul M. van Brugge is satisfactory. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the regular release
M. C. Escher (Maurits Cornelis Escher) is a Dutch artist of influence worldwide, gaining
momentum with a variety of mathematical works, from the minimal art of the fishes to a
disillusioned stairwell. In bringing his work to life, unlike seeing them in the flesh, or seeing a
documentary, in 2018 an interactive combination of audio transcripts and create your own Es
cher, was forged, providing a broader, yet still limited view of who he was and what he
created, entitled De Metamorfose van Escher (The Metamorphosis of Escher). Previously there was a CD-ROM in 1996 capturing much of this, for better or worse. My appreciation of all of Escher's works is almost entirely unemotional and abstract, mathematical even.
The music of Paul M. van Brugge is somewhere in between musically capturing the
abstractness of the works, while simultaneously, as any audio transcript, capturing an emotion,
and showing clear signals of the limitations of interactive experiences such as this. In all 'segments', the music, on a loop, recaptures an emotional and abstract feeling through a minimal approach, with intimate piano, string lines, a solo woodwind, and (slightly) new-age electronics. The dreamlike and religiously contiguous works, depicting a praying mantis and the sarcophagus of a bishop, with an illustrative reference to indefinite emptiness, are underscored by a hallucinatory organ and a slightly new-age use of woodwind and synthesizers, supported by small punctuations of strings.
The experience neglects his best work, the Escherian, Penrose-inspired Stairwell concept;
illuminating and psychologically strong. Yet, everywhere else, the composer does not only capture
the abstractness, the endlessness, the inspirational sense, and even a personal melancholic touch
through the string sections in regard to his life. The experience features the option to remove
the audio transcribing, reading the text, and being able to hear the original score unhindered.
Through limitations and things uncovered in an interactive experience, the original music by Paul M. van Brugge is satisfactory.
(13-03-2026)
Experience the interactiveness at https://archief.ntr.nl/escher/#/nl/ />
momentum with a variety of mathematical works, from the minimal art of the fishes to a
disillusioned stairwell. In bringing his work to life, unlike seeing them in the flesh, or seeing a
documentary, in 2018 an interactive combination of audio transcripts and create your own Es
cher, was forged, providing a broader, yet still limited view of who he was and what he
created, entitled De Metamorfose van Escher (The Metamorphosis of Escher). Previously there was a CD-ROM in 1996 capturing much of this, for better or worse. My appreciation of all of Escher's works is almost entirely unemotional and abstract, mathematical even.
The music of Paul M. van Brugge is somewhere in between musically capturing the
abstractness of the works, while simultaneously, as any audio transcript, capturing an emotion,
and showing clear signals of the limitations of interactive experiences such as this. In all 'segments', the music, on a loop, recaptures an emotional and abstract feeling through a minimal approach, with intimate piano, string lines, a solo woodwind, and (slightly) new-age electronics. The dreamlike and religiously contiguous works, depicting a praying mantis and the sarcophagus of a bishop, with an illustrative reference to indefinite emptiness, are underscored by a hallucinatory organ and a slightly new-age use of woodwind and synthesizers, supported by small punctuations of strings.
The experience neglects his best work, the Escherian, Penrose-inspired Stairwell concept;
illuminating and psychologically strong. Yet, everywhere else, the composer does not only capture
the abstractness, the endlessness, the inspirational sense, and even a personal melancholic touch
through the string sections in regard to his life. The experience features the option to remove
the audio transcribing, reading the text, and being able to hear the original score unhindered.
Through limitations and things uncovered in an interactive experience, the original music by Paul M. van Brugge is satisfactory.
(13-03-2026)
Experience the interactiveness at https://archief.ntr.nl/escher/#/nl/