reviews

Magic
“Magic is the word when it comes to the composition for ensemble and electronics by Dutch Canadian composer Edward Top, which features samples of prerecorded child violinists (his students, ages five to eight). Different sections of the piece are based on a variety of textures, which find their origin is rhythmic repetition, which  brings links with minimalism to mind (Bojan Plećaš-Kalebot makes mention of the term • minimalist microcanon • in the program booklet). The fragile intonation of the children's violin-playing might have easily turned the work into something irritating. But, the contrary is true. The work shows an incredible creativity of the composer, who, from a seemingly completely inconspicuous piece of music, has succeeded in shaping extremely interesting musical textures that function as a dialogue in the modern, digital age (…)  It is a pity the work was performed in front of only a handful of people (due to the terrible downpour) as I get the impression that not only musicians who follow contemporary classical music of the 21st century would like the work, but also those who follow contemporary trends in popular music, and find their choice in listening to YouTube videos.”
Irena Paulus, Cantus Number 217, November, 2019 (Translated from Croatian)

Helix
“The programme started with the world premiere of Dutch composer Edward Top’s Helix (yes, there was a Dutch theme throughout), a VSO commission doubtlessly stemming from Top’s previous position as a Composer-In-Residence with the orchestra. As evidenced in his recent Fugue States for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra, and Pots and Pans are Falling, the composer typically offers very tightly-knit structures which feature insistently-repeated notes passed around the ensemble to create ‘echo effects’. More appropriate for an opening night celebration, this time Top placed his germinal motive and its ‘echo’ within a film-score lyricism, to soften its rigour and to give the proceedings more flow. This was quite successful overall, and the orchestra gave the piece a nice glow.” Geoffrey Newman, Vanclassicalmusic and Seenandheard - September, 2018

“From the podium Tausk explained how the program symbolized the past, present, and future of the orchestra, starting with a commissioned curtain raiser for the next 100 years, Edward Top’s five-minute Helix.
A former professional violinist, Top knows orchestras well and, as a past composer-in-residence, the VSO in particular. Helix checks all the right boxes, a short work filled with interesting timbres, textures, and rhythmic vitality — perhaps a just a bit cautious compared with more substantial Top works heard in the past but getting the mood of celebration and renewed purpose just about right.” David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun - September 22, 2018

“Starting with the “future,” the orchestra breezed into a first public performance of Edward Top’s short and sublime Helix – even the title is progressive. Students of geometry might describe a helix as a single element that takes an orbicular three-dimensional shape. Opening with the French horns, the piece claims a single motive played through different tempi. The composer employs an intriguing production technique stemming from electronic delay to create an evocative circling effect. Edward Top himself was on hand to announce the composition.”
John Jane, Review Vancouver, 2018

“Helix by former VSO resident composer Edward Top set out into more intellectual waters—some sort of references to DNA double helices, I think—but even if you didn’t get the underlying science, the music was full of warmth and cohesion as swirling strands of sound twisted heavenward out of the orchestra.
It wasn’t too long ago that a new commission was greeted with muted horror by audiences preferring a diet that did not stray too far outside the Mozart-to-Rachmaninov spectrum. But applause was hearty and generous. For me, Top’s music holds a lot of subtlety so I thought that if the orchestra had a few more cracks at the score, it would certainly realize Top’s ideas better. World premiers are a risky affair so bravos all ’round.” Jason Hall, 23 September, 2018

“La courte pièce Hélix du compositeur canadien Edward Top qui a lancé la deuxième partie de la soirée était d’une tout autre facture, nettement plus moderne et hermétique. Elle a été interprétée en présence du compositeur qui l’a d’ailleurs présentée aux spectateurs avec un humour sympathique et en lisant un texte en français, geste d’une grande courtoisie qui a été fort apprécié du public.”
“The short piece Helix by Canadian composer Edward Top which launched the second part of the evening was of a completely different making, much more modern and tightly-knit. It was performed in the presence of the composer, who also presented it to the audience with sympathetic humour and by reading a text in French, a gesture of great courtesy which was highly appreciated by the audience.” François Houde, le Nouvelliste, 26 mars 2023

Bass Trombone Concerto“Edward Top’s Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra is a shimmering fantasy embedded with rich bellows and sunken tones masterfully produced by soloist Scott MacInnes.” Adam Scime, The Whole Note, April 21, 2022

Eruption
“At the beginning of the concert, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra joined the main ensemble (Toronto Symphony) for Edward Top’s Eruption, a creation of decibels and ostinatos. I am a very good audience for this kind of “big stuff” (…). The work seeks to transform the primitivism of cave paintings into music. The result evokes the Mexican Silvestre Revueltas (Night of the Mayas), the Australian George Antill (Corroboree) and the Icelandic Jon Leifs (Hekla).” Christophe Huss, Le Devoir – January 25, 2017

“Au début du concert, l’Orchestre des jeunes du Toronto Symphony se joignait à la phalange principale pour Eruption d’Edward Top, une création nourrie en décibels et ostinatos. Je suis très bon public pour ce genre de « gros machins » (…). L’oeuvre cherche à transposer en musique le primitivisme des peintures rupestres. Le résultat évoque le Mexicain Silvestre Revueltas (La nuit des Mayas), l’Australien George Antill (Corroboree) et l’Islandais Jon Leifs (Hekla).” Christophe Huss, Le Devoir – January 25, 2017

“Opening with Dutch composer Edward Top’s somewhat edgy piece, Eruption, Maestra Rosemary Thomson led us into a kaleidoscopic world of fantastic patterns and rhythmic shifts. Pulsing rhythms drove this piece forward with lots of special effects—col legno in the strings, all kinds of glissandi and a richly padded percussion section. The colours of this work were primarily dark and reflected the composer’s experimentation with a blend of medieval French ars nova style and thrash metal. Kudos to Maestra Thomson for choosing this work and to the entire orchestra for being able to pull it off with conviction.” Anita Perry, Vernon Morning Star – March 13, 2017

Together
“For his own Together, a duet for bassist David Brown and trombonist Jeremy Berkman commissioned by Sonic Boom, he’s gone back to the man who literally wrote the book on orchestration, Hector Berlioz—and then thrown away that 19th-century master’s rules.
In Berlioz’s treatise on orchestration he writes, ‘As a recent development, the trombones are being used in parallel or in octaves with the double-bass groups,’ ” Top observes. “He thought that was a very bad development and very uncreative, so I took that onboard—and actually did exactly what Berlioz would have not liked and wrote a piece in unison between double bass and trombone. And not only are they playing the same thing, but they’re also playing in fifths. Because the material itself is written like a riff from rock music, it has that power-chord feel to it.
Berkman and Brown will premiere Together at Pyatt Hall on Saturday (March 19).” Alexander Varty , Georgia Straight, March 16th, 2016

Duel
“Top has a new piece in that program, too, which finds the veteran new-music sextet (Standing Wave) joined by former Vancouver Symphony Orchestra bass clarinetist Cris Inguanti.
“Cris suggested, ‘How about the two clarinets having some kind of duel—duelling the musical material?’ And that’s the idea that stuck,” Top says of his appropriately titled Duel. “The piece starts with a long, extended solo for bass clarinet—a bit like the third movement of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time: very abstract melodic lines. And the melody comes back later in the clarinet, but played by AK Coope from the ensemble. And in between, the other instruments explore that same melody. So it’s a duel in the sense that the two clarinets are competing, but at the same time the bass clarinet is kind of like duelling with the ensemble as a whole, as well. It’s not quite as black-and-white as that—not so clear, just like real life. But that’s kind of the idea.” Alexander Varty , Georgia Straight, March 16th, 2016

Lamentation
“Edward Top’s mysterious, modernist Lamentation (2014), [is] a feast for Li’s expressive mastery in the erhu’s upper range. Top was a recent composer-in-residence with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.” Andrew Timar, the WholeNote - 27 February 2015

“Edward Top’s Lamentation combines the pre-recorded sound of a crying woman (played by the pianist while the erhu player is performing) that emphasize the dolorous nature of this music. A brief bio of the composer indicates his fascination with such sounds, as he was apparently noted by a Dutch newspaper of the 1990s as “The Horror Composer” and uses for inspiration such non-musical devices as film noir, thrash metal, and the painters Bosch, Ensor and Goya. That being said, Lamentation is a well-written piece that captivates the listener from first note to last.” Lynn Bayley, Fanfare Magazine - 2015

“Lamentation by Edward Top starts and ends disturbingly with a recording of a weeping woman. The title alludes to the professional mourners found in several cultures, including in Taiwan. It begins with an excellent demonstration of the tones produced by the erhu at the upper extreme of its range.” Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare – 2015

camera obscura: dark chamber
“fellow VSO emeritus Edward Top presented the world première of his three movement work camera obscura: dark chamber.  One always likes Top’s inspirations and his patent honesty and consistency in presenting his craft.  Here, inspired by his father’s photography, the composer has created a powerful primal expression of family angst.  Top combines mixed and complex meter to enhance his penchant for “tangible motives that soon dissolve” which are used as a metaphor of his childhood experiences in the dark-room. The metaphor is enticing, and Top has chosen to amplify the angst by abstaining from using a hyper-meter to govern his metrical changes. The composer has consistently experimented with types of skittering or pulsating echo effects.” Kate Mackin, Vanclassicalmusic.com - 2015

Family Songs
“VSO composer-in-residence Edward Top’s Family Songs received its premiere, with Driedger-Klassen (…) in the solo role, singing in both English and Dutch. Top’s pre-performance description of his style as moving toward a ‘new simplicity’ belied the work’s depth and power. This is wonderful music which explores an extraordinary range of emotional territory, touchingly personal and thus universally compelling.” David Gordon Duke, The Vancouver Sun - February 24, 2014

Riff
"From the Weimar Republic decadence of Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera: Suite to the metal-inspired mania of resident composer Edward Top’s Riff, it’s an utterly different but no less inspired program." Georgia Straight, April 23, 2014

Fugue States
“Edward Top’s Fugue States for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra featured the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet based in Germany. It is not often that you see a bent (as opposed to a straight soprano sax that resembles a silver plated oboe or clarinet) soprano saxophone. Top explained that his composition (about a mental malady called Fugue States in which those who suffer it have memory lapses) was based on the first five notes of the scale (…) had me on the edge of my seat as I attempted to figure out which section of the orchestra was playing those five notes.” Alex Waterhouse-Haywards, blog January 2014

"As we know from sporting events, a wave is created when different sections of the audience stand up just when its predecessor sits down.  In Top’s compositions, different orchestral choirs take on the note inherited from the previous group, passing this along indefinitely to create a distorted elongation (‘echo effect’) of the original motif.  In the composer’s ‘Fugue States for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra’, the Rascher Quartet play a major role in driving a simple motif which flies around the orchestra (...) This germinal motif is eventually slowed down.  The echo effect at the slower tempo allows the development of warmer and more settled textures with the ‘fly’ only making an occasional appearance." Geoffrey Newman, Vancouver Classical Music, January 2014

My Skeletonized Portrait
“A piece with an exuberant fantasy.... brilliant scoring....its 'oldfashioned' qualities carry the expression.” John Borstlap

"Il terzo premio è andato ad Edward Top. Olandese di nascita, specializzatosi al King’s College di Londra, attualmente compositore in residenza presso l’Orchestra di Vancouver, Top è tra le figure più originali del panorama compositivo internazionale, nelle sue opere spesso cercando peraltro suggestioni che arrivano da un lato dal mondo della filosofia, dall’altro da quello della pittura. Anche questa sua nuova partitura per violino e orchestra fa chiaramente riferimento alle opere del pittore James Ensor, fin dal titolo, 'My Skelotonized Portatit', che rimanda ad alcune sue celebri tele." Iperbole, la rete civica di Bologna, August 1, 2012
"The Third Prize has been awarded to Edward Top. Born in the Netherlands, he studied in London at the King’s College. He is now resident composer of the Vancouver Orchestra. Edward Top is among one of the most original characters of the composition international scene. In his works he often quotes philosophical and painting elements. His new score My Skeletonised Portrait, for violin and orchestra is a clear reference to the painter James Ensor." Iperbole, la rete civica di Bologna, August 1, 2012

Pots ‘n Pans Falling
“Pots n’ Pans Falling, a piece in the first half by the VSO’s composer-in-residence Edward Top, could be said to be simple to an extremely finely crafted point. He manages to spin a simple melodic idea recorded from a young violin student by staggering it in quick and precise rhythmic iterations to produce a hypnotic delay effect. The piece is a tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. One of the young survivors of the tragedy described the sound of gunfire as sounding like ‘pots and pans falling on the floor’. When it careens itself into it’s inevitable (yet beautiful and subdued) climax, all the instruments are teetering at the highest of precipices and 26 bell strokes are intoned to commemorate the victims of the tragedy.” chris-sivak.com, 2014

Totem
“It's got one basic tempo and a basic pulse that operates in the slow sections as well as the quick sections. It's very cleverly done … It's a very beautiful piece, and it's got a very still, beautiful ending," Bramwell Tovey as quoted in the Arizona Daily Star, 20 January 2013

“A composer of considerable talent, able to communicate with a broad public, yet highly individual in his artistic persona … The orchestral writing, which was realized brilliantly under Tovey’s baton, is vivid and full of interest, the textures are lucid, and the dynamic arc of the work is articulated clearly.” Bernard Jacobson, Seen and Heard International (Seattle) - 30 January 2013

“Tensile string glissandos and sustained wind chords as cool and aloof as a Hitchcock blonde … Built out of logs and hide, full of earthy thwacks and snaps from the percussion … and gutsy sound effects” Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly – Jan. 24, 2013

“Underscored with a primitive and propulsive energy” Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times – Jan. 24, 2013

“Raw and edgy” Hali Bernstein Saylor, Las Vegas Review-Journal – Jan.26, 2013

“Really the highlight of the evening” Ed Bruce, Las Vegas Entertainment, 26 January, 2013

“Top has an ear for orchestral colour second to none … The work reflects an earthy neo-primitivism” David Gordon Duke, The Vancouver Sun - January 20, 2013

“Top also worked items of personal significance into his score: a sentimental Dutch song handed down through his family, and the aggressive blastbeats of thrash metal he thrilled to as a teenager.” Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight - Jan 21, 2013

“Totem with its fabulous percussion and complex pulsations is almost tribal; it’s a work of musical genius.” Karen Fitzgibbon, Review Vancouver, January 2013.

AS8 Earthrise
“Edward Top a écopé de la tâche moins évidente de chanter la Terre avec l’ensemble Alizé, augmenté cette fois-ci du très beau violoncelle de Mariève Bock. Il a montré une bonne maîtrise de l’instrument, et nous a offert une belle façon de parler ; le parlé-flûté ! Le texte dit à travers les flûtes avec hauteurs de sons et rythmes. Une mélodie, un « sprechgesang »  à la flûte. Frais et rigolo. De très belles textures sonores mettant en contraste la longue mélopée du violoncelle et des « clusters » mouvant aux flûtes, créant une impression de terre meuble et mouvante sous un violoncelle solide. Edward Top, avec AS8 Earthrise nous a donné une œuvre qu’on réentendra avec plaisir.” Normand Babin, Montréalistement, February 15, 2013

“Le lyrisme naturel de l'instrument à cordes devient complément idéal aux sonorités plus aériennes. Si l’œuvre semble d'abord se décliner comme concertante, le violoncelle finit par se fondre dans la masse sonore (notamment grâce à un travail sur les harmoniques). Les mouvements chromatiques ascendants et descendants, gestes de plus en plus larges, particulièrement efficaces, s'opposent ici à une structure d'harmoniques presque statiques, rappelant les paysages lunaires évoqués dans certains des textes.” Lucie Renaud, blogspot Clavier bien tempéré (Montreal), 14 February, 2013

“Edward Top was sentenced to the task of having Ensemble Alizé sing the less obvious praises of the Earth, this time with the addition of the wonderful cellist Mariève Bock. Top showed a solid mastery of the instrument and offered us something to talk about: the flute-talk! Texts are spoken into the flutes, with parallel pitches and rhythms creating a melody: a « sprechgesang » for the flute. Fresh and funny. The very beautiful sonorous textures form a contrast with the long lamenting cello lines and moving flute « clusters », creating a sense of loose soil underneath a solid cello. With AS8 Earthrise Edward Top has given us a work that we welcome to hear again with pleasure.” Normand Babin, Montréalistement, February 15, 2013

“AS8 Earthrise of Edward Top, allowed the marriage between the flute ensemble and cello soloist Mariève Bock (who had also worked with Alizé last year). The natural lyricism of the string instrument proved ideal for the more ethereal sonorities. Where the work at first seems to subside into a concertante the cello eventually blends in with the sound masse (notably thanks to the work on harmonics). The ascending and descending chromatic motions, gestures that are expanding increasingly, are particularly effective in contrast with an almost static harmonic structure, recalling the lunar landscapes mentioned in some texts. Fortunately, these texts (transcripts of radio communications of AS8 Earthrise), are provided. Unfortunately however, they proved impossible to decipher and the flutes acted more like resonating loudspeakers. Perhaps he should have written the texts to be louder than mezzo piano?” Lucie Renaud, 14 February, 2013

Silk Execution
“There was no dozing off during this piece: percussionist Verne Griffithsʼ slapstick jolted listeners into full attention right off the top, and Topʼs imaginative use of a five-horn frontline—inspired, he said, by the firing squad in Francisco Goyaʼs painting Execution of the Rebels—was equally commanding.” Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight Vancouver, April 22, 2013
"Most evocative I thought was Silk Execution by Edward Top, who, following the style of Rihm, has five trombones played cluster chorales, placed against- and mixed with percussion as in Chinese opera, coloured by a harp, piano and harmonium. Slow-moving clusters are developed diatonically, fast staccato clusters chromatically. Especially the harmonium mixes well with the low brass, the percussion is a little overdone, but near the end a force of direction is inevitably achieved in this ritual.” Ernst Vermeulen, NRC Handelsblad October 18, 1999.
“‘La Chambre Claire’ sounds significantly more Western than ‘Silk Execution’ by the Dutch Edward Top with its percussion part reminiscent of Gamelan music.” Haagse Courant, 2 september 2000.

Haywain
“The music is disturbing, raw, full of violence, and yet also gentle with elegiac parts. Shrill tones, reminiscent of sirens or hyena laughter alternate with cantabile passages and the silent hissing of the four instruments.” Cornelia Addicks, Schwaebische (Germany), 9 January 2013

Witte Wieven, Concerto for Violin and Two Orchestras
“It is a rather mysterious piece inspired by a medieval legend of the Achterhoek, where the Top brothers grew up: the story of the Witte Wieven (White Wives) - the mysterious mist on the land, which were thought of as witches.” From Ghosts are coming to life, Jacqueline Oskamp, Amsterdam Uitkrant #4, 
December 2007

“Top showed his own voice, which was impressive … a moving ritual unfolded.” Michel Khalifa, Het Parool
 (Netherlands), 12 December 2007

“An exciting musical journey … Top is gradually gaining appreciation and today this seemed absolutely justified.” Rinus Groot, Haarlems Dagblad 
(Netherlands), 13 December 2007

Masquerade
“Based on the enigmatic, disquieting painting Christ’s Entry into Brussels by James Ensor, Top’s concise work for large orchestra is a layered and complex gem. Full of imaginative textures and colours, it makes a serious point. Top has made an impressive debut with the orchestra; listeners can look forward to new discoveries during his tenure.”
David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun, 4 December 2011

“Masquerade lived up to its name, being just as phantasmagorical and grotesque as the work it’s based on, and just as funny.” Lloyd Dykk, Georgia Straight Vancouver, 5 December 2011

Songs of an Egyptian Princess
"Tom (Cone) and Edward chose four texts from the 'Princess Scenes,' but rather than leave them as four discrete songs, they integrated them into the propulsive, provocative spine of a dramatic, eighteen-minute encounter with the thundering face of transformation itself. The Princess’ alteration from one shape into another, from one state into another-a transfiguration she welcomes-requires a violent metamorphosis. From the long opening chords played by the strings-introduced and accompanied by tolling chimes, through a series of crucial dissonances, to the cataclysmic moments represented by a chorus of brass, cymbals and drums, 'Songs' articulates the urgency of her desire to break through to another dimension."
"Perhaps we should hear the echoes of Britten in Top’s score as a reflection on, or a refraction of, the potential of the inner nature of the earthly form that’s bound to the rock of fallen time." Colin Browne, Tom & Coyote, ti-TCR (The Capilano Review) a web folio, number 4, spring 2012, pp. 24-30.

Erfopvolging
“In a[nother] video, Erfopvolging (Throne Succession), composer Edward Top gives the commedia harmonica a face-lift. This ancestral mother of opera is a polyphonic hymn about life and love and was performed as a musical sketch in estates and palaces. In Erfopvolging the elegant music room has given way to a foot-ferry, a high wall where they hang out, and a church where autumn leaves swirl at the feet of the singers.” Martin Kaaij, VPRO gids, Vrijdag etalagen 7 juni 2013.

Love Thy Neighbor
“VSO composer-in-residence Edward Top’s very 21st-century micro-opera Love Thy Neighbour was a singularly bold way of beginning an evening of Mahler songs and Brahms (Sunday evening at the new Orpheum Annex). It is an arresting work, bristling with ingenuity." David Gordon Duke, Review: Bold programming of Mahler Plus pays off for VSO, Vancouver Sun, January 24, 2012.
"Edward Top is the VSO’s new composer-in-residence; his opera Love Thy Neighbor was written for the Opera Project in May in collaboration with librettist Tom Cone. Top, who hails from the Netherlands, moved to Vancouver the previous year. "The text is action-driven, moving in a linear narrative from discovery to discovery, quite Aristotelian but there is a big narrative surprise," Top says. The forces are limited. "Four singers, who could conceivably perform this out of the blue any-where," with no instrumental musicians or props, Top says. "It's a very conservative libretto, one that Verdi or Britten would have understood as classical opera narrative. The story, set in Jerusalem, is really about three religions.
Considering the work’s religious/ethical concerns in the light of Mahler's struggles with his religious beliefs, the resonances seem entirely appropriate for the most adventurous add-on to Mahler Plus." David Gordon Duke, 'VSO puts Mahler gems in historical settings', Vancouver Sun, January 19, 2012

Why Elsewhere
"Edward Top is a performing musician himself. Nevertheless Top hasn't made it easy for the orchestra musicians: 'My music is quite complex. But I’m doing that on purpose: I want the musicians to sit at the tip of their chairs. Only then the energy I am aiming for is achieved.’" Enjoying the magic of the first performance -Nominated for the Composers-prize of the Netherlands Music Days, Winand van de Kamp, Utrechts Nieuwsblad, December 9, 2002

"Waarom elders? van Edward Top is kundig geschreven laat-romantiek met Hollandse klompjes in het slagwerk." Jaco Mijnheer, de Volkskrant, 16 december, 2002

Symphony No.1, Golden Dragon
“A piece made with lots of courage, imagination and knowledge of the orchestra” Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant (Netherlands) 4 June 2002

“A dreamlike expression of street life and the collective unconscious” Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight, 5 November 2012

“From its arresting opening to its theatrical conclusion, Top's symphony is brilliantly conceived for a large orchestra.” David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun, 5 November 2012

"Edward Top's Symphony Golden Dragon is a piece that was created with great daring, imagination and knowledge of orchestral matters (...) with the much-maligned Romantic sound revelries with which the work concludes, you may wonder where the dividing line lies between seriousness and irony." Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant, June 4, 2002

Most Beautiful Bird of Paradise
“In the Amsterdam concert hall Paradiso, the premiere of Edward Top’s commissioned work Most Beautiful Bird of Paradise was performed. In this work the bird only appears in its title. But the melodic lines reached out for the skies with a harmonious song of the accordeon and violins, joined in with the flute and trumpet. Dull drones of the bass drum avoided the piece to result into a frenzy of sweetness and during the finale the composition had the 'Most Beautiful Bird' explode in shrill, high tones.
Dutch composer Top (1972) is a versatile man. He doesn’t hold back using the grand, romantic gesture and also far beyond Holland’s borders he is drawing attention to his work. Two months ago he won the Martirano Award at the University of Illinois in the US for his first String Quartet. His sense of timbres and surprising correlations between instruments were very much appreciated in Paradiso.” Bêla Luttmer, de Telegraaf (Netherlands), 14 November 2003


…And he wept bitterly
“After a rough neo-expressionistic opening, Top stretches the musical tension further and further … Top has the guts to stick out his neck real far.” Frits van der Waa, de Volkskrant (Netherlands), 19 March 2002

The Overwhelming Blankness of the Ultimate Meaninglessness of Tragedy
“Horror composer Edward Top acted as a kind of snake, hypnotizing listeners as frightened little bunnies.” Ernst Vermeulen, NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands), September 3, 1996


“The biggest surprise of the evening … Top uses a female singer and an actor reciting texts about an execution and a vision of the hereafter. Within twenty minutes, the piece develops from a slow and lyrical beginning to a dramatic and expressive concentration of the contradiction of both experiences.” Kees Arntzen, Trouw (Netherlands), 5 September 1996

The Stillpoint
“The Stillpoint transports the listener through delicate atmospheres for a good fifteen minutes. Without losing his grip on the overall line, he wryly contrasts à la Zappa mass-media banalities with mystical patches.” Emile Wennekes, Key Notes (Netherlands), spring 1995

Double Smooth Disaster
“Sterk klonk ook Double Smooth Disaster (1996) van Edward Top, een werk dat in dromerige rust langzaam opgroeit uit geslagen en gestreken vibrafoontonen. Groot is vervolgens de impact van een snel en luid klaterende passage. In alle stilte schuilt echter de ware virtuositeit van de compositie.” Jochem Valkenburg, NRC, 24 November, 2005

“… strong was Double Smooth Disaster (1996) by Edward Top, a work that in a dreamy peacefulness slowly builds from beaten and bowed vibraphone tones. Great is the impact of a fast and loudly gurgling passage that follows. It is in its quietness, however, where the true virtuosity of the composition hides.” Jochem Valkenburg, NRC, 24 November, 2005

aliquid stat pro aliquo
“één en al weldadige klankschoonheid (blissful sonic beauty all around)” Jochem Valkenburg, NRC, 8 September 2008.

Das Lied der Schwermuth
“In Tops grillige worsteling Das Lied der Schwermuth (2003) brengt een bariton, die het muzikale decor binnenglijdt als een cello, reflectie met een cynisch randje.” Jochem Valkenburg, NRC, 21 December, 2007

"In Top's erratic struggle Das Lied der Schwermuth (2003), a baritone, who slides into the musical decor like a cello, brings reflection with a cynical edge." Jochem Valkenburg, NRC, 21 December, 2007