Amsterdam, 10-10-2012 - Already last summer, the Dutch Chamber Choir (NKK) through our country, working with amateur choirs at surprise station concerts to draw the attention of the general public to its seventy-fifth anniversary. In the coming weeks, this anniversary will be celebrated with a series of concerts in seven different cities, under the recruiting title 'A tradition of renewal'.
The kick-off of the festivities will take place on 12 October at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, where the singers will spend a weekend illustrating the choir's versatility with a range of activities. One will organise workshops for amateur singers and children and present a taster concert with vocal students under the slogan 'Masters and companions'. The highlight is the Festival concert on Sunday 14 October, featuring six conductors who have strong ties with the Nederlands Kamerkoor.
The foundations for the NKK were laid by VARA, which in 1937 asked pianist and choral conductor Felix de Nobel to perform some of Bach's cantatas for radio. The 30-year-old De Nobel had won his spurs as an accompanist of singers and as conductor of the Aerdenhoutsch Vrouwenkoor, consisting of trained singers, which he himself had founded. For radio broadcasts, he assembled a 14-strong ad hoc choir, which decided to stay together when VARA did not renew its contract.
It was not until 1938 that the name Nederlands(ch) Kamerkoor first surfaced, when the Monthly magazine for contemporary music announces the birth of the company. This will focus on 'practising classical and modern choral singing in the broadest sense'. The first official concert takes place on 9 January 1939 at Hotel de Leeuwerik in Haarlem, presenting a wide range of works. Besides music by Kodály and Ravel, pieces by Mozart and Brahms, as well as Renaissance polyphonists such as Palestrina and Jannequin, are on the desks.
The latter was not yet a matter of course in the 1930s, but is indicative of the NKK's entrepreneurial spirit, which immediately sought to join the emerging movement of authentic performance practice. De Nobel himself had inherited his love for polyphony from his teacher Sem Dresden, and in the seventy-five years of its existence, the choir always continued to study the latest developments in this field. It sang under specialists such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Philippe Herreweghe and built up a close relationship with Paul van Nevel, now honorary conductor. He will lead the choir on Sunday 14 October in compositions by Clemens non Papa (c 1510-1555) and Perotinus (c 1160-1230).
From the outset, De Nobel also gave an important role to new and cutting-edge music, and in 1943 he gave his first composition commission, to Rudolf Mengelberg, a cousin of conductor Willem. After this, many more composers of repute would compose pieces for the NKK. On Friday 12 October, chief conductor Risto Joost and the singers selected from it, under the apt title 'A tradition of renewal.' In addition to Antiphona de morte by Mengelberg, they sing, among other things Songs of Ariel by Frank Martin (1950) and Laude alla vergine Maria By James MacMillan (2004).
The concert, which will be repeated in six cities, will also feature the world premiere of The Sea from Leo Samama, artistic director of the NKK for many years. It is a setting of two poems by Vasalis, whose poetry inspired him to write the song cycle as early as 1976 If there is music for that... Samama composed a 12-voice piece: 'I tried to transform the many layers of Vasalis' verses into sound, but at the same time exploit its gentle nature, despite some passionate moments, as well as the calmly undulating and lapping sea.'
Besides its great finesse in both early and new music, the NKK also has a reputation to uphold in the field of romantic music. During the extra-long celebration concert on Sunday 14 October, Risto Joost will conduct Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen by Mahler. Former chef Tõnu Kaljuste, who, like Joost, hails from Estonia, broke a lance for Baltic composers and leads the choir this evening through Raua neemine by his compatriot Veljo Tormis. Choirmaster Klaas Stok conducts the moving O sacrum convivium By Messiaen.
Naturally, Reinbert de Leeuw, who has led the NKK through countless existing and new works since the early 1980s, will also be in attendance, collaborating on such high-profile productions as Aus Deutschland by Mauricio Kagel, and together with the choir won Edisons for CDs by Liszt, Gubaidoelina and Andriessen. He conducts the first performance of The Moth Requiem, which British composer Harrison Birtwistle composed especially for the anniversary. With this adventurous programming, the NKK once again presents an impressive calling card.
Unfortunately, the future looks less bright than we might expect based on its glorious past. Two years ago, the NKK was kicked out of Basic Infrastructure and now Eindhoven is threatening to backtrack on its offer to take it under its wing from 2013. It is to be hoped that the Municipality of Amsterdam takes responsibility and manages to keep this internationally renowned company for the capital. After all, the NKK is forever young and it would be an eternal shame if we could no longer hitch a ride on their exciting musical explorations.
Former artistic director Leo Samama wrote a article for Musicof.nu
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