Oud of nieuw, klassiek of modern, minimaal of wereld. Pop. Tonaal en atonaal.
It will happen to you. At 70, they honour you with a CD box set, five years later you are offered a compilation twice the size. It happened to Dutch oboist Han de Vries (The Hague, 1941), who celebrated his 75th birthday last August. In 2011, his former student Peter Bree collected the radio recordings on nine CDs, this time he filled a...
Shimmering. Wondrous, ferocious. Poetic, powerful. Creative and humorous. Musical. Engaging. Layered. Spirited. A few days after my concert visit, words like these keep bubbling to the surface. And even though the Eef van Breen Group (EvBG) with Chapman for President is a typical case of 'especially go there', 'hear for yourself' and 'cannot be described', I'll make an effort. In the beginning My...
Last summer, French-Colombian collective Pixvae was the sensation of the Haarlemmer Houtfestival. Their debut was recently released through the prestigious French label Buda Musique. This week there are two Dutch shows. You can't start a day better than with Pixvae's first CD. Eight pieces only, but the energy that oozes from it is irresistible. The music of...
During the big January cleaning in my private museum, I rediscovered the book released in 2007, on the occasion of the Music Building on the IJ, which opened two years earlier. I had forgotten that it came with a CD with four pieces on it. The fourth piece is a recording of the opening speech given by Jan Wolff [hints]former director IJsbreker, more than twenty...
Ruth Mackenzie has achieved an enormous amount in the short time she has been boss of Holland Festival. I've experienced the festival now since the late 1990s and watched it evolve from something very personal and sometimes obscure (under Ivo van Hove), to an ethereal feast of sizzling aesthetics (with Pierre Audi), to what it...
Alan Gilbert conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for the fifth time on Wednesday 8 February. Until the end of this season, he is chief of the New York Philharmonic, exuberantly expressing his love for contemporary music. He proved to be the ideal conductor to premiere Joey Roukens' new work, aptly leading the musicians through the exhilarating...
On Friday 10 February in Utrecht, the Nederlands Kamerkoor will kick off its concert series Sacred and Profane, based on Benjamin Britten's choral work of the same name. The programme also includes his popular cycle Hymn to St Cecilia, which he composed during World War II. The score was confiscated by the US Customs Service in 1942 because it allegedly contained codes that were dangerous to the state. The American fear of a...
Richard Rijnvos (1964) has been house composer of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2011. This has so far resulted in two new pieces: Antarctique, the final movement of his cycle Grand Atlas (2011) and fuoco e fumo from the series la Serenissima (2013). On Thursday 2 and Friday 3 February, conductor Gustavo Gimeno leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in its third commissioned work, Amérique du Nord. The...
Johan Gijsen has been elected Utrechter of the Year. The organiser of the Le Guess Who? Festival succeeds FC Utrecht owner Frans van Seumeren (2015) and athlete Dafne Schippers (2014). The election for Utrechter van het Jaar was held by the AD Utrechts Nieuwsblad. Six columnists selected ten nominees who could be voted for. Gijsen founded Le Guess Who? in 2007....
What is a 'companion piece'? On Thursday 12 January, the quirky Ives Ensemble answers this question at a concert in the Thursday night series at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam. Especially for this, Richard Rijnvos composed his Riflesso sull'arco, a 'companion piece' to Swinging Music by Kazimierz Serocki. I asked Rijnvos three questions. What typifies you as a composer? Let me start with...
Five art experiences will always stick to this bizarre year for me. And one thing really scared me. Whether the worst is now behind us? At least the most extraordinary is still on view until 5 February 2017. A chronological overview of what was unbelievable, unthinkable, inconceivable, unbelievable and perhaps untrue. Much of it, by the way, will be in 2017...
On 20 December, the general membership meeting of Coöperatief Cultureel Persbureau unanimously decided to accept a cooperation offer from The Co-operative/House of Journalism and Reporters Online. This is an important step in the development of independent cultural journalism. Culture Press, as the Cooperative Cultural Press Agency is known on the internet and social media, is growing significantly as a result. The...
Each month, in the (Un)heard series, I present extraordinary sound that does not go unnoticed and unsung. In this December edition: Brume, Cinema Perdu, Emanuele de Raymondi, Mark Fell, Zeno van den Broek and James O'Callaghan. Like a vise around the neck Brume - Mother Blast (LP, Grautag) Nicolas Moulin's Grautag label guarantees dystopian soundscapes. Those landscapes the label presents...
I tell you here why you should go to see Parsifal, and not even just because of the object by Anish Kapoor that plays a part in it. And you could also go to theatre one day, by the way. With The Girls. Fel theatre by our very best theatre company (according to Americans). The National Opera, Parsifal (opera) Four years ago, I attended Pierre Audi's...
This month, early music pioneer Marijke Ferguson turned 89. She led the adventurous ensemble Studio Laren for 30 years and has been making radio for over 50 years, the last 23 for the Concertzender. Time and again, she manages to intertwine old and new music with pop and world music in an appealing way. On Sunday 11 December, the Concertzender puts her centre stage during...
Jean-Michel Jarre was visiting the Netherlands. At the Heineken Music Hall, old and new fans could enjoy his hypnotic work. I went there to listen, but of course also to watch. Forty years ago, Jean-Michel Jarre, pioneer in synthesiser music, released Oxygène. Anno 2016, we are 12 million copies sold. On that massive scale, the Frenchman produces...
In de serie (On)gehoord presenteer ik elke maand buitengewoon geluid dat niet onopgemerkt en onbesproken blijft. In deze November-editie: Jacob Kirkegaard, Oren Ambarchi, Glice en N.M.O. Jacob Kirkegaard – Munk (Cassette, Phinery Tapes) De Deense geluidkunstenaar Jacob Kirkegaard onderzoekt de impact van geluidsresonantie op onze oren én de rest van het lichaam. In Kirkegaard’s werk staat direct, intiem contact via…
Until 31 December, classical music lovers can browse the unprecedented amount of sheet music, CDs and music books at Broekmans & van Poppel. The iconic shop, stately located next to Brasserie Keyzer and the Concertgebouw on the Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam, will close its doors after 102 years. The family-run business will continue in Badhoevedorp, where the central warehouse is already...
In 1975 organiseren de jazzmusicus Misha Mengelberg en de kunstenaar Wim T. Schippers Een behoorlijk kabaal in het Amsterdamse Mickery Theater. Een week lang onderzoeken ze in ‘onnavolgbaar muziektheater’ de verschillende betekenissen van een concert. Jacqueline Oskamp koos het als titel van haar recent verschenen boek waarin zij de Nederlandse muziekgeschiedenis van de afgelopen eeuw beschrijft. Treurige conclusie: er is…
It is around 11 o'clock on Sunday evening. Jlin taps a rattling beat in the air with her index fingers. When the relentlessly sucking bass kicks in, she accompanies it with an elbow down. Her grin from ear to ear is met with cheers from the audience. Le Guess Who? 2016 (hereafter LGW) is coming to an end, but that's what these...
Afgelopen weekend bezocht ik een koffieconcert van het barokgezelschap The Continuo Company. Met m’n 53 jaar was ik een van de jongste bezoekers. Om me heen gerimpelde gezichten en grijze haren. Steeds vaker hoor ik dat vergrijzing van het publiek voor klassieke muziek een probleem is. Ik vind dat grote onzin en begin me steeds meer te ergeren aan deze…
'It took me 18 years to make a new recording,' Croatian pianist Ivo Pogorelich (1958) says with a modest smile. 'Just as much time as it takes a baby to come of age.' It is Wednesday, November 2. A special moment, because on that day Pogorelich's CD-less new recording of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas No 22 and No 24 will go on...
On Tuesday 2 November, Cappella Amsterdam presented a new CD at the Orgelpark. This includes Arvo Pärt's large-scale choral work Kanon Pokajanen, which was also performed live. After the concert, chief conductor Daniel Reuss was appointed Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion. This very high royal decoration is only awarded to people "with extraordinary merits...
Unlike older colleagues, Bruno Mantovani (Châtillon, 1974) did not suffer from the modernist umbrella shadow that Pierre Boulez long cast over French musical life. He writes lyrical melodies as much as dissonant tone clusters and jazzy chords spiced with a pinch of microtonality. That he was appointed director of the Paris Conservatoire in 2010 illustrates how strong the musical climate...
It no longer hums, buzzes, sings, saws and buzzes in the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. The cello caravan has left. The sixth edition of the Cello Biennale Amsterdam is over, leaving the thousands of cello and music fans with a feeling of emptiness. Nowhere else does such an amazing festival of cello take place in ten days, where the audience feels like...
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