Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition.

[1] Although his music was initially dominated by neoclassicism and serialism, his style gradually shifted to a synthesis of American minimalism, big band jazz and the expressionism of Igor Stravinsky.

They disrupted the concert with nutcrackers and bicycle horns, handing out leaflets on the dismal representation of Dutch new music in the orchestra's programming.

The next year, he and the other "Nutcrackers" were given one-week prison sentences, and yet their protest sparked something of a social reform in the Dutch music scene.

[8] Andriessen was internationally recognised as a composer with his 1976 De Staat which included texts from Plato's Republic.

[12] He held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall during the 2009–10 season.

[citation needed] Andriessen began in the style of an intentionally dry neoclassicism, but then turned into a strict serialist.

[14] His early works show experimentation with various contemporary trends: post-war serialism (Series, 1958), pastiche (Anachronie I, 1966–67),[24] and tape (Il Duce, 1973).

[14] His range of inspiration was wide, including the music of Charles Ives in Anachronie I, the art of Piet Mondrian in De Stijl, the visions of Beguine mystic Hadewijch in Hadewijch, and shipbuilding and atomic theory in De Materie Part I.

[11] His mature music combines the influences of jazz, American minimalism,[2] and the music of Igor Stravinsky and Claude Vivier,[26][27] containing minimalist-influenced polyrhythms, lyrical melodic fragments, and predominantly consonant harmonies disrupted by concentrated dissonance.