Fred Momotenko: ‘We zenden te veel en luisteren te weinig’

‘s Hertogenbosch, 5 november 2012 – Het modernemuziekfestival November Music gaat a.s. woensdag van start en duurt tot en met  zondag 11 november. Zoals gebruikelijk geeft het ruim baan aan experimentele concerten en multimediale projecten. Zo wekt Horst Rickels met klankinstallaties historische ruimtes tot leven, manipuleren Rob van Rijswijk en Jeroen Strijbos live de klanken van het Amerikaanse strijkkwartet Ethel, en laten Dyane Donck en Evelien van den Broek een kroonluchter musiceren met behulp van muziekdoosjes. Van Michel van der Aa wordt het alom bejubelde Up-Close uitgevoerd, waarin een celliste een dialoog aangaat met haar eigen filmprojectie.

Speciaal voor November Music componeerde de Russisch-Nederlandse Fred Momotenko het multidisciplinaire Cloud-Messenger, waarin hij op basis van een oud Indiaas verhaal een aanklacht formuleert tegen de huidige sociale media, die volgens hem grote eenzaamheid creëren: ‘We zenden te veel en luisteren te weinig’, zegt hij hierover.

Het Blog eigentijds van de VPRO maakt elke dag opnames van de voorstellingen. Op hun verzoek sprak ik met Fred Momotenko, die op dit moment koortsachtig werkt aan de laatste loodjes van Cloud-Messenger. Je leest het hier: http://blog.eigentijds.radio4.nl/2012/11/november-music-we-zenden-te-veel-en-luisteren-te-weinig-fred-momotenko/

Het interview is ook te lezen op muziekvan.nu

Naschrift 30-9-2020: helaas zijn beide blogs inmiddels offline gehaald. 

#CloudMessenger #FredMomotenko #NovemberMusic

The News van JacobTV: genadeloze satire op dagelijks nieuws

Het nieuws: vandaag is het hot, morgen wordt de vis erin verpakt. In zijn video-opera The News geeft Jacob ter Veldhuis/JacobTV het een tweede leven door het in een nieuwe context te plaatsen. Op 8 november, de dag van de Amerikaanse verkiezingen wordt zijn immer actuele en geactualiseerde opera uitgevoerd in het festival November Music in Den Bosch.

Ik verwacht een genadeloze satire op de ontluisterende strijd tussen Hillary Clinton en Donald Trump. In 2014 schreef ik een voorbeschouwing over de première van De Nationale Reisopera en het Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.

Enschede, 20 mei 2014

Van verpakking tot vis naar video-opera: The News van JacobTV

In zijn video-opera The News geeft Jacob ter Veldhuis/JacobTV het een tweede leven door het in een nieuwe context te plaatsen. ‘Tegenwoordig is nieuws infotainment, gedompeld in sentiment.’ Komende vrijdag brengt de Nederlandse Reisopera de première in het Wilminkteather in Enschede. Hoewel première? Dit is de vijfde versie van de ‘reality opera’, die in 2011 voor het eerst werd uitgevoerd en daarna in verschillende gedaantes Amerika en Europa veroverde. Maar die waren concertant, nu tekent Xander Straat voor een scenische aanpak. En bovendien: ‘Zo’n opera is nooit af.’

Al vroeg gooide Jacob ter Veldhuis (Westerlee, 1951) de compositorische kont tegen de krib. Tijdens zijn studie aan het Gronings Conservatorium speelde hij in rockbands en joeg hij zijn docenten de stuipen op het lijf door stukken te schrijven voor parkiet. Eenmaal afgestudeerd bleef hij zijn popachtergrond trouw, zo doorsnijden flarden jankende gitaar van Jimi Hendrix het klavecimbelstuk De zuchten van Rameau. Hij ageerde tegen het in Darmstadt gepredikte – en ook in Nederland vigerende – serialisme door openlijk te streven naar welluidendheid en toegankelijkheid – met als eerste hoogtepunt het schitterende oratorium Paradiso.

Welluidende samenklanken en samples

Naast zijn hang naar mooie samenklanken, minimalistisch angehauchte herhalingspatronen en een liefde voor opzwepende ritmiek ontwikkelde Ter Veldhuis een fascinatie voor samples. Zo verwerkte hij al in 1992 in The Laws of Science de stemmen van Stephen Hawking en Jack Kerouac. Tegelijkertijd en geheel tegen de tijdgeest in liet hij zich steeds vaker inspireren door maatschappelijke en politieke thema’s: titels als Postnuclear Winterscenario en Gulf War spreken voor zich. Geleidelijk ontwikkelde hij een eigen stijl, die leidde tot groovende stukken voor musici en ‘boombox’ – een gettoblaster met teksten uit Amerikaanse talkshows of van televisiedominees.

Dat de sterk visueel ingestelde JacobTV uiteindelijk ook videobeelden zou gaan verwerken, lag voor de hand, temeer daar hij al vroeg samenwerkte met beeldend kunstenaar Kristien Kerstens. Samen met Jan Boiten tekent zij ook in The News voor het videomateriaal dat hij als uitgangspunt neemt voor zijn compositie. Door uitspraken te herhalen, vertragen, versnellen en verknippen ontstaat een fascinerend inkijkje in onze door de media gedomineerde belevingswereld. Niet alleen focust JacobTV op wát iemand zegt, maar ook op zijn of haar lichaamstaal. Zo toont hij aan hoe de schijnbaar objectieve werkelijkheid zwaar gemanipuleerd wordt.

Volk is dupe van falende politici

In The News leveren twee nieuwslezeressen – de Nederlandse mezzo Nora Fischer en de Amerikaanse jazz- en konnakolzangeres LOIRE – schijnbaar onbewogen commentaar bij de meest uiteenlopende scènes. Variërend van een Somalische vrouw die vertelt over de gruwelen in haar vaderland, de Amerikaanse minister Rumsfeld die ontkent/toegeeft waterboarding te hebben toegestaan, een raket die in Gaza een twaalfkoppige familie doodt, tot aan een troonrede waarin Koningin Beatrix haar volk oproept de broekriem aan te halen. – ‘Terwijl ze zelf in een gouden koets rijdt’, zoals Amerikanen JacobTV verontwaardigd voorhielden.

JacobTV ontwikkelde zijn muziek, uitgevoerd door een tienkoppig Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, op basis van de spraakmelodie van de fragmenten, die hij naar notenschrift vertaalde. Door in te zoomen op de originele gesproken woordsamples probeert hij de gedachten en gevoelens van mensen te doorgronden, op zoek naar betekenis. Hij benadrukt dat de muziek en de beelden voor zich moeten spreken zodat de bezoeker zelf zijn of haar oordeel kan vormen. Toch erkent hij dat The News in wezen gaat over ‘leiders en het volk dat de dupe is van hun falen’.

– Ai, misschien toch een beetje oud nieuws?

#DonaldTrump #HillaryClinton #JacobTerVeldhuis #NationaleReisopera #NederlandsBlazersEnsemble #NovemberMusic #TheNews #TheaDerks

Louis Andriessen on De Staat: ‘Politicians are dumb’

In 1976, Louis Andriessen (1939)* composed his ground-breaking composition De Staat, based on texts by Plato. This ruthless explosion of sound meant his international breakthrough and is still considered an icon of new music.

On Sunday 6 November 2016, I Solisti del Vento, the Scottish Red Note Ensemble and the Norwegian vocal ensemble Song Circus will perform De Staat during the festival November Music.

In 2008, the Netherlands Blazers Ensemble released a live recording on CD, and for the booklet I interviewed Andriessen, enquiring how he looked back on his piece. His answers still seem surprisingly relevant in 2016.

In 1976, you concluded somewhat disappointed that music, contrary to what Plato believed, was not dangerous for the state.

‘Of course Plato’s text was based on a misconception, and my reaction to it was essentially paradoxical: it’s a pity that Plato was – and is – wrong. But I’m afraid I find this observation even truer now than it was back then.’

Yet there were and still are governments that ban music.

‘Yes, but then it usually concerns the context in which it is played, or a text used in a composition. Plato really went into the music itself, but our current politicians are dumb and cannot read notes. Krzysztof Penderecki wrote 8’37 towards the end of the 1950s, which, although not banned, was boycotted by the state ensembles.’

‘Shortly afterwards, he presented Lamentation for the Victims of Hiroshima, which was applauded by politicians for its tragic eloquence – while we all know it was the exact same piece.’

In the 1960-70s, music was often politically motivated; this seems no longer to be the case.

‘Music history moves in waves, as do political and social developments. The flourishing ensemble culture in the Netherlands has its roots in our actions back then and is still unique in the world. Unfortunately, yuppie politicians now rule the country, thinking that the state has no responsibility whatsoever, so that trains don’t run on time, traffic is jammed and public healthcare is a disaster.’

‘It is the general trend among those over thirty-five: make sure your own bed is made. Politicians are only interested in getting as many votes as possible, but I expect that their children will counter react and steer in a different direction.’

‘They will do something similar to what we did in the 1960s and 1970s, which was another variation on what happened in the 1920s, when the arts managed to shatter laws. If not much exciting is happening at the moment, this is because our time is still a reaction to the sixties.’ 

At the time, there was an enormous interest in modern music; now it seems to have been banished from the public domain.

‘Around 1880, everything revolved around music, now visual culture is paramount. The hip-ness of film and television reigns supreme, as we are still bowled over by moving images. In the past you went to a concert to listen to music, or you played the piano at home. Now you go to the cinema.’

‘Incidentally, there may be fierce opposition to contemporary composing, but horror films are full of clusters and other modernities nobody complains about. The focus on visual culture has had an enormous impact on our perception of art.’

In the past, you wanted to reach the man in the street with your music, now popular culture seems to have taken over.

‘Well, today the man in the street has a very hard time of it, because he is bombarded by the terrorism of entertainment. I don’t think we have succumbed to our own success, however, because there are still people who want to make their own choices. Even if there is little to choose from. On the other hand, there have never been so many opportunities in the field of music as we have seen in recent years.’

‘Look at the programming of the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw for the upcoming season; there is an exemplary Thursday night series of thirty concerts exclusively offering modern music. I travel around the world, but this is unthinkable in London, Paris or New York. My generation has made all this possible here in The Netherlands.’

‘Yet at this moment a lot of what we achieved is being demolished, but I’m convinced today’s children will react to this in due course. That may well cost lives, because reactions are always fierce. Fortunately I will be long dead by then…’

*Louis Andriessen died on 1 July 2021.
The Netherlands Wind Ensemble premiered De Staat in 1976.
I played De Staat in my programme Panorama de Leeuw on January 3, 2018 on Concertzender.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKIGz4KUgLM

#DeStaat #ISolistiDelVento #LouisAndriessen #NederlandsBlazersEnsemble #NovemberMusic #RedNoteEnsemble #SongCircus #TheaDerks

De 5 concerten die je niet wilt missen op November Music

Van vrijdag 4 tot en met zondag 13 november maakt November Music Den Bosch tot het bruisende epicentrum van een scala aan avontuurlijke concerten, vaak gepresenteerd op bijzondere locaties. Net als het Storionifestival eerder dit jaar besteedt ook het nieuwemuziekfestival aandacht aan de vijfhonderdste sterfdag van Jeroen Bosch. Hier mijn vijf tips voor concerten die je niet wilt missen.

Detlev Glanert: Bosch Requiem

De imposante St. Janskathedraal vormt het decor van een gloednieuwe dodenmis, het Bosch Requiem van de Duitse componist Detlev Glanert. Hij is een van de huiscomponisten van het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest en is gefascineerd door onze minder fraaie zielenroerselen. Hij werd vooral bekend als operacomponist en oogstte veel lof voor zijn opera Caligula, die de nadagen van de Romeinse keizer belicht. De onderhuidse dreiging en imposante orkestratie herinneren aan de opera Elektra van Richard Strauss.

Glanert vindt dat wij ons vaak als beesten gedragen en zoomt in zijn composities graag in op die dierlijke drijfveren, zoals bijvoorbeeld in zijn succesvolle orkestwerk Theatrum Bestiarium. Deze overtuiging past ook uitstekend bij de bizarre schilderijen van Jeroen Bosch.

In zijn Bosch Requiem duikt de componist diep in de duistere ziel van de Brabantse schilder, waarbij hij inspiratie put uit de reguliere teksten van de requiemmis en de Carmina Burana. Het Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest en het Groot Omroepkoor worden geleid door de Duitse dirigent Markus Stenz, die ook tekende voor de cd-opname van Caligula.

Joël Bons: Nomaden

Sinds jaar en dag brengt Joël Bons als artistiek leider van het Nieuw Ensemble en oprichter van het Atlas Ensemble musici uit Oost en West bij elkaar. Tijdens de afgelopen Cello Biënnale gooide hij hoge ogen met zijn speciaal voor het Atlas Ensemble gecomponeerde Nomaden. Deze ambitieuze, een uur durende compositie is gezet voor een combinatie van Aziatische en Westerse instrumenten.

Zo klinkt de duduk, een Armeens dubbelrietinstrument, naast de klassieke hobo en wordt de erhu, een tweesnarige Chinese vedel, gecombineerd met viool, altviool, contrabas en strijkinstrumenten uit India, Turkije en Azerbeidzjaan. Wie vreest voor Hollywoodachtige muziekjes vol clichématige couleur locale krijgt ongelijk. Bons slaagt erin al die verschillende kleuren tot een samenhangend geheel te weven.

Atlas Ensemble (fotocredit Atlas Ensemble)

Critici en publiek reageerden onverkort enthousiast. Het Parool rept van ‘het even enerverende als ontroerende Nomaden van Joël Bons’ en noemt het een ‘meesterwerk’. De Volkskrant roemt de manier waarop de componist ‘een uur lang de mogelijkheden verkent van het achttienkoppige Atlas Ensemble, dat zich bedient van instrumenten uit alle windstreken. (…) De trefzekerheid van Bons visioen en het fenomenale spel van de musici maken Nomaden tot een belevenis van de eerste orde’.

Geen hel, maar een hemel op aarde dus. De uitvoering tijdens November Music is overigens hoogstwaarschijnlijk de laatste mogelijkheid dit stuk te horen, want het Atlas Ensemble krijgt met ingang van 2017 geen subsidie meer.

Dimitri Verhulst & Vasco Mendonça: Bosch Beach

De Vlaamse auteur Dimitri Verhulst en de Portugese componist Vasco Mendonça kijken door de ogen van Jeroen Bosch naar onze huidige wereld. Uitgangspunt is het idee van de hel op aarde: hoe ziet die er vandaag de dag uit? Welke plek is nu het ‘Valse Paradijs’?

Zij plaatsen twee mannen en een vrouw zonnebadend op het strand van Lampedusa terwijl de vluchtelingen aanspoelen. De vakantiegangers sluiten hun ogen voor hun omgeving en leven in een cocon van vermaak en seks, overgoten met alcohol. Zij verleiden elkaar, sturen briefkaarten met de gekende clichés en drinken cocktails tot diep in de nacht.

Bosch Beach (fotocredit Muziektheater Lod)

In Bosch Beach spelen Verhulst, Mendonça en regisseur Kris Verdonck met de ambiguïteit van dit paradijselijke oord en de onmogelijke schuldvragen die het met zich meebrengt. De vluchtelingenstromen houden ons immers een spiegel voor en doen een moreel appel op ons geweten. Gaat onze levensstijl niet ten koste van de levenskwaliteit en stabiliteit op andere continenten? En zo ja, zijn wij daar als individu verantwoordelijk voor?

Een antwoord geven de makers niet, wel prikken zij de schijnwereld van het drietal door met vervreemdende elementen, zodat het valse paradijs van de resorts en de Bosche hel op aarde naadloos met elkaar vervloeien. De pers was enthousiast. De Standaard noteerde dat ‘Dimitri Verhulsts vuilbekkende libretto vervreemdend clasht met de sublieme zanglijnen’. Knack Focus schreef: ‘Heineken, kutjes en memmen: met Bosch Beach voegt Dimitri Verhulst venijnig volkse woorden toe aan het operarepertoire.’

De Frankfurter Rundschau looft ook de uitvoerders: ‘Muzikaal was Bosch Beach van topniveau: het Asko|Schönberg, onder leiding van Etienne Siebens, bevestigde zijn reputatie als Nederlands topensemble voor nieuwe muziek, dat zich neerzet in de vorm van Mendonça’s duistere, ingetogen en vaak smartelijke toon. De stemmen van de drie acteurs waren ronduit briljant. De extreem heldere en slanke contratenor Rodrigo Ferreira, de zachte en rustig gerekte frasering van de sopraan Marion Tassou en de markante maar toch steeds lichte bariton van Damien Pass waren grandioos.’

Aspasia Nasopoulou: Ten Dipoles

De Grieks-Nederlandse Aspasia Nasopoulou (1972) componeerde tien muzikale miniaturen voor zesentwintig verschillende blokfluiten. Het wordt uitgevoerd door blokfluitkwintet Seldom Sene, waarvoor zij eerder het succesvolle Lelia doura componeerde. Nasopoulou baseerde zich in haar nieuwe stuk op de voor-Aristotelische theorie van ‘dipolen’ die als basisprincipes gelden van alle elementen.

Thea Derks en Seldom Sene tijdens inleiding in TivoliVredenburg 19-2-2016

Tegen een decor van bewegende en trillende automaten moet het kwintet laveren tussen dipolen als goed/slecht, gewoon/vreemd, vrouwelijk/mannelijk, stilstand/beweging, licht/duister en vierkant/rechthoekig. De blokfluitisten worden aangevuld en uitgedaagd door Vijf Vrije Aerofonen, windinstrumenten die speciaal voor dit stuk zijn ontwikkeld door klankkunstenaar Horst Rickels en vormgever Ernst Dullemond.

Nasopoulou heeft een poëtische en expressieve ontwikkeld. In 2014 klonk in November Music al Nachtwerk, waarin zij muzikaal reflecteert op gedichten van Micha Hamel. Ik schreef hierover: ‘Het is knap hoe de componist de vier strijkers naadloos aan laat sluiten bij de declamatie van Hamel. Met subtiele muzikale gebaren onderstreept zij een woord, een onderliggende betekenis, zonder daarbij ooit de spreker te overstemmen.’

Aart Strootman en Marco Mlynek: Hemelse Hel

Net als Glanert en Mendonca lieten de gitarist/componist Aart Strootman en de pianist/componist Marco Mlynek  zich door Jeroen Bosch inspireren. Zij namen de muzikantenhel uit het bekende paneel Tuin der lusten als letterlijk uitgangspunt. Hierop worden mensen geplet, gemarteld en gekruisigd door een gigantische harpluit en dito draailier. Strootman en Mlynek vroegen zich af hoe deze fantasie-instrumenten zouden klinken, bouwden ze na en schreven er elk een compositie voor.

Storioni Trio met draailier (foto Mike Roelofs)

Hemelse Hel betrof een opdracht van het Storionifestival, en ging afgelopen januari in première. Violist Wouter Vossen vertelde me destijds: ‘De instrumenten zijn prachtig en de draailier is fantastisch: hij is twee meter hoog en wordt aangedreven door drie elektromotoren. Normaal draai je zelf met je hand, maar daarvoor is het veel te zwaar. Marco moet op een trapje klimmen om het te kunnen bespelen. Het komt dichtbij wat je je voorstelt bij hoe de hel kan klinken, het heeft een penetrante, onaangename klank.’

‘De harplier daarentegen is juist hemels. Die is zeer knap gemaakt, want het is eigenlijk een onmogelijk instrument, ontsproten aan de fantasie van Jeroen Bosch. Het heeft een bescheiden volume en spreekt tot de verbeelding, zoals bijvoorbeeld het engeltje met de harp. Het klinkt mooi en lieflijk en wordt door Aart Strootman zelf bespeeld.’ Tijdens het concert in de Frits Philipszaal bleek de draailier inderdaad een overdonderend geluid te produceren, terwijl het de etherische harpluit mooi mengt met de strijkers van het Storioni Trio.

Gaat dat zien, gaat dat horen!

#AartStrootman #AspasiaNasopoulou #AtlasEnsemble #DetlevGlanert #DimitriVerhulst #JoëlBons #MarcoMlynek #NovemberMusic #SeldomSene #StorioniTrio #TheaDerks #VascoMendonça

Vanessa Lann zooms in on Hieronymus Bosch in ‘Big Picture’

The new music festival November Music that runs from 4-13 November will dedicate its last day to an ambitious ‘art music route’ through the beautiful city of Den Bosch. From 12 am to 6 pm short concerts are staged at various locations, where some of them are performed three times. Thus you get several opportunities to hear the pieces of your choice.

In my 5 tips for the festival I already included two of these events, but here’s one more: Big Picture by the American-Dutch composer Vanessa Lann. It was written in January 2016 for the Storioni Festival and is inspired by the triptych Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch died 500 years ago and is a central figure in November Music. Big Picture will be performed by the Storioni Trio in De Toonzaal. Only once though, on Sunday 13 November at 4 pm.

Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch

Vanessa Lann (New York, 1968) has been a composer and pianist since the age of five and studied composition with composers such as Ruth Schonthal, Earl Kim and Louis Andriessen. In 1990 she moved to the Netherlands.

Limited amount of material

Lann likes to compose for specific performers, and builds her compositions from a limited amount of material. She creates clear, often circular structures, in which (varied) repetition plays an important role. ‘The listener has an experience of starting off in a world that doesn’t yet make sense’, she says. ‘But through the use of repetitive elements, or an increased density of the instrumentation or number of notes, he or she gradually comes to an understanding of what role a seemingly meaningless detail plays in the entire set-up of the piece.’

Background versus foreground

Lann likes to play with our expectations: ‘I’m interested in the path a listener follows, and in the dichotomy between background and foreground. This is rooted in my fascination for time and repetition. Often we concentrate on what draws our immediate attention, missing the things that are going on at a different level. How do we appreciate music when we hear it once, twice, three times or even more? At what point do we realize that what at first seemed to be the background, may well have been the core of the composition?

Storioni Trio (c) Studio 305

Big Picture

Big Picture was a commission for the 20th jubilee of the Dutch Storioni Trio, that premièred it during their Storioni Festival in January 2016. For what was to be her first piano trio, Lann enthusiastically embraced their request to reflect on Bosch’s hellish representation of the garden of Eden. ‘There are so many repeated images in the Bosch triptych that I’ve attempted to repeat elements in the three main movements of the piece’, she said in an interview.

In Big Picture Bosch’s triptych opens itself up to the viewer/listener as it were, first displaying the overall picture that’s replete with naked people, water, outlandish animals and hellish creatures in multiple repetitions. The composer was fascinated by the question whether we focus on the details, or rather on the ‘big picture’, in other words: what is the foreground, what the background?

Vanessa Lann (r) interviews Anna Korsun, Gaudeamus Music Week 2014

Instruments become part of a bigger picture

In an interview with The Strad the composer explained how she translated this into music: ‘In the first movement, the violin serves as a background element, playing with mute, without vibrato and with slow patterns in a soft dynamics. When the same exact notes return later, the violinist is in the foreground, playing with much vibrato and a much louder dynamics. Throughout the piece the cello echoes the lines of the violin yet it sounds different as the cello has another timbre. It brings up the question of what on one instrument sounds heavenly can simply be hellish on another.’

‘The audience will find some of the repeated patterns as strange as the images in Bosch’s painting. Yet, once the piece nears completion all of the musical gestures make sense. They grant a role to the listener to see what he or she notices just like different people pick up on different things when looking at a visual image. The musical juxtaposition between foreground and background gives each instrument the chance to become part of a “bigger” picture.’

After its première The Strad concluded: ‘The boundaries between visual arts and music are indiscernible.’ You can check out for yourself on Sunday 13 November at 4 pm in De Toonzaal, Den Bosch.

#BigPicture #DeToonzaal #HieronymusBosch #NovemberMusic #StorioniTrio #TheaDerks #VanessaLann

Hilda Paredes immortalises Afro-American freedom fighter in her opera ‘Harriet’.

Zojuist verschenen: Een os op het dak: moderne muziek na 1900 in vogelvlucht

On Friday 9 November Harriet by Hilda Paredes will be performed in November Music, in a production by Muziektheater Transparant. The opera is dedicated to the legendary Afro-American freedom fighter Harriet Tubman (c. 1822-1913), who escaped from slavery in the middle of the 19th century. Hereafter she liberated many fellow slaves through the so-called Underground Railroad, at the risk of her own life. After years of tug-of-war the American Treasury decided to place the portrait of Tubman on a 20-dollar note in September 2018.

Harriet was composed on a commission from the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico, the Belgian Muziektheater Transparant and the Dutch Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, where it was premiered in October 2018. The charismatic soprano Claron McFadden initiated the opera and sings the leading part, the Flemish singer Naomi Beeldens is her conversational partner Alice. Harriet is directed by French Jean Lacornerie, and the Belgian Hermes Ensemble is conducted by Manoj Kamps.

Before the premiere on 3 October I talked with Hilda Paredes and Claron McFadden, who gave a moving insight in her own background in the United States. The soprano grew up in Rochester, New York, where Tubman had once had one of her safe-houses. Her great-grandmother told her about this famous abolutionist, yet she was too young to fully grasp her importance. – Her relative died when Claron was six years old.

Mexican roots

In the Netherlands, the Mexican-British Hilda Paredes (1957) is little known. Although she has lived in England since 1979, she still has strong ties with South America. In 2001 she received the prestigious J.S. Guggenheim Fellowship for her opera El Palacio Imaginado. This is based on a story by the Chilean author Isabel Allende. For the libretto she drew from modern Mexican poetry, among other things.

I met Paredes for the first time in 2010, during a concert of the Arditti Quartet. I was impressed by her second string quartet Cuerdas del destino, in which the string instruments whisper like human voices. But who is Hilda Paredes? A short portrait in three questions I asked the composer at the request of Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.

What typifies you as a composer?

I find much inspiration in the rich cultural life of my native Mexico. I often work together with Mexican poets and artists, but I also follow other musical traditions. In terms of rhythm and structure, I am inspired by the music of North India. However, I avoid quoting or imitating traditional music. – Except when the subject asks for it, as in the case of Harriet. I like to put poetry to music and address psychological, political, gender and humanitarian issues in my operas.

Moreover, over the past fifteen years I have worked a lot with electronics. This has not only drastically changed my way of listening but also my way of composing. I often make instruments sound different than we are used to, using alternative playing techniques that I develop myself. Fortunately, most musicians today are familiar with such ‘extended techniques’.

Hilda Paredes, foto Graciela Iturbide

What can we expect from your opera ‘Harriet’?

It is a portrait of the African-American freedom fighter and former slave Harriet Tubman. Harriet tells her life story to her young protégé Alice. In the first act we hear about her youth as a slave and about a violent injury to her head. This gave her religious visions that eventually showed her the way to escape.

She became known as the Moses of her people, a leader who freed many slaves. To this end she used the Underground Railroad, a network of anti-slavery activists. Via smuggling routes slaves could flee from the southern to the northern states of America, and later to Canada. Like most of her peers, Tubman was illiterate, so she used music to guide runaways. Encrypted messages were packaged in simple tunes, some of which you hear in the second act.

Once she had acquired a property as a free woman, Tubman took in an eight-year-old, light-coloured girl, Margaret. The third act is about the unanswered question of whether Margaret was her daughter, because the two had an unusually strong bond. In her old age Harriet often told stories to Margaret’s youngest daughter Alice.

The fourth act describes the battles Harriet led during the Civil War. She also reminisces about Nelson Davies, a young soldier who became her second husband. We get to know her thoughts as recorded by various sources. Finally she states her message to President Lincoln. The epilogue is a message of hope and continuity in her struggle against slavery and racism.

How did you set up your composition?

Harriet is a chamber opera for two voices, percussion, violin, guitar and electronics. The original idea was for a monodrama, to be told by Harriet. But during our research we came across her strong bond with Alice, Margaret’s youngest daughter. In the new set-up Harriet tells her story to Alice, who also acts as a third-party narrator. That’s why in the final version there are two singers.

Mayra Santos-Febres has written beautiful and well documented poems, based on Harriet’s life. Lex Bohlmeijer wrote most of the dialogues and made a storyline. Because I had only limited means at my disposal, I also use electronics. The electronics create an extra, but very subtle extra layer to the performance. Thus I was able to unfold a wide sound spectrum that does justice to the dramatic development of Harriet’s life.

9 November, Theater aan de Parade, Den Bosch, 9 pm: Harriet by Muziektheater Transparant.

#ClaronMcFadden #HarrietTubman #HildaParedes #MuziekgebouwAanTIJ #MuziektheaterTransparant #NovemberMusic

‘I hope we will glide into another world together’ – Calliope Tsoupaki composes Bosch Requiem ‘Liknon’ for November Music

Calliope Tsoupaki (c) Michiel van Nieuwkerk

In 1988 Calliope Tsoupaki (1963) came from Greece to the Netherlands to study composition with Louis Andriessen. Exactly 30 years later she was appointed ‘Componist des Vaderlands’ (Composer Laureate). In this capacity she has already composed a number of highly topical pieces. When Notre Dame de Paris went up in flames on 15 April, Tsoupaki immediately took to her composer’s desk. Five days later Jan Hage played the world premiere of Pour Notre Dame on the organ of the Dom in Utrecht. This year she is festival composer at November Music. She will compose its traditional Bosch Requiem, which will be premiered on All Souls’ Day.

Over the past three decades Tsoupaki has become one of the most important composers in the Netherlands. Unlike other students of Louis Andriessen, she did not embrace his percussive style, based on contrasting blocks of music, which became known as the ‘Haagse School’ (The Hague School). Instead of moulding her compositions from an amalgam of minimalism, jazz, popular music and modern-classical. Tsoupaki seeks inspiration from her personal background, weaving her own style out of the musical traditions of Greece and the Middle East, as well as early and new European music. Her work has an almost archaic, timeless beauty.

Death as a threshold

Nor does Tsoupaki deny her Greek roots in the choice of her subject matter. Already in 1993 she composed the successful Orphic Fields, later followed by successful oratorios such as St. Luke Passion, Maria and Oedípus. Last October Salto di Saffo for pan flute, recorder and orchestra was premiered in the NTRZaterdagMatinee. This double concerto was directly inspired by her own life. When she came to the Netherlands in 1988, her boat sailed past the place where the famous poet allegedly jumped off the rocks. – Just as Tsoupaki plunged into deep waters by exchanging her fatherland for an unknown environment.

For the Bosch Requiem she again drew on her Greek background. ‘I did not want to write a lament in the tradition of the Latin Requiem Mass’ she explains. ‘That presents death as something irrevocable, but for me it is more like a threshold, a transition into the unknown. That’s why I chose the title Liknon, which means something like “cradle”. It’s a beautiful symbol of the elusive position between life and death.’

Two icons were leading when composing, says Tsoupaki enthusiastically. ‘Last summer I visited the Greek island of Kythira. There I saw the icon Panagia Myrtidiotissa, where the face of Mary has completely faded into a black spot. According to myth, this image was found in burning myrtle bushes, hence its name, Madonna of the Myrtle. I find it very moving, as if hundreds of years of veneration for Mary have been concentrated in that black face. It has fathomless depth, you can suspect so much behind it and project your own thoughts, hopes and fears on it. For me, it symbolizes beauty in darkness.’

Theofanis 1392

She was also inspired by an icon of Theofanis from 1392 about the Ascension of Mary. ‘Maria is lying on her deathbed, surrounded by the 12 apostles and her son Jesus. He towers high above her, cradling his mother as a baby on his hand. This completes the circle: life and death are actually one, a comforting thought.’

Tsoupaki is perhaps moved even stronger by the icon of El Greco from the sixteenth century. ‘This has a gripping expression of feeling, which actually runs counter to the tradition of icons as neutral objects of faith. But it fits wonderfully well with the Marian songs of the Cretan monk Agapios Landos (1580-1656), from which I have used verses. In my composition I also veer between objectivity and passion. It is a musical prayer to Mother Mary in times of doubt and need.’

Maria icon El Greco

She wrote Liknon for the tenor Marcel Beekman, the countertenor Maarten Engeltjes and his baroque ensemble PRJCT Amsterdam. ‘I deliberately chose two high voices, because of their angelic countenance. What’s more, a countertenor is elusiveness incarnate: a rarefied voice that transports you to higher spheres; it balances on a threshold. That fits in exactly with what I want to express with my piece. In the instrumental accompaniment I have tried to capture that hesitation as well, this continuous moving back and forth.’

Liknon is not the only piece of Tsoupaki’s to be performed in November Music. On 3 November a new version of Narcissus will be performed. She composed it in 2013, fulfilling a commission from the festival. ‘It’s about the youngster who falls in love with his own reflection in the water and eventually dies from it. A flower with an intoxicating scent sprang up on the spot. I designed the five-tone Narcissus-chord that is counterpointed by a five-layer “scent-chord” designed by Tania Deurloo. Together they carry the whole composition.’ In the original version violin and piano – the two ‘lovers’ – were accompanied by alter egos, now they operate purely as a duo.

Still awaiting completion are new solo pieces for trumpeter Eric Vloeimans and recorder player Erik Bosgraaf. And, last but not least, Tsoupaki composes a new ritual choral work that will ‘launch’ her Bosch Requiem. This will be sung in the open air by choirs from Den Bosch, visitors of the festival and everyone present on the square in front of Concert Hall Parade.

Tsoupaki: ‘I hope we will all glide into another world together. – And, of course, return.’

November Music, 1-10 November, Den Bosch

#BoschRequiemLiknon #CalliopeTsoupaki #MaartenEngeltjes #MarcelBeekman #NovemberMusic

Music from anger and powerlessness – Georg Friedrich Haas in November Music

Georg Friedrich Haas is one of the central composers in the upcoming edition of the newmusic festival November Music. Last year the Austrian created a sensation in the Holland Festival by openly talking about his master-slave relationship with his wife Mollena. Possibly even more spectacular was their joint production Hyena.

Mollena Williams-Haas told a blood-curdling story about how she got rid of her addiction to alcohol; her husband provided the hypnotic music. For November Music he wrote the brand new Solstices; the Dutch premiere of his Ninth String Quartet can also be heard.

In modern music circles, Georg Friedrich Haas is regarded as one of the most important composers of our time. However, he is still largely unknown to the general public in the Netherlands, despite his frank outcry about his sex life. However, slowly more and more people gradually learn to appreciate his colourful, iridescent compositions. This is in part thanks to his often performed ensemble piece in vain, which is partly performed in complete darkness.

Powerlessness

Haas composed it in 2000 out of a feeling of anger and powerlessness. A government coalition had just been formed between the right-wing extremist Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs and the Österreichische Volkspartei. In vain is inspired by the infinite steps in the lithograph Ascending and Descending of Maurits Escher. Just as the people walk aimlessly in circles, the music also circles around its own axis. A fine symbol of the futile resistance against right-wing extremism.

As clever is how Haas allows different sound worlds to collide with each other during the passages played in the dark. Harmonic, pleasant chords come up against terrifying structures of microtones. Because these notes differ from the twelve semitones of the common scale, they sound ‘false’ to our ears. The already threatening atmosphere becomes stronger when the light is extinguished. Together with the musicians, the audience descends, as it were, into the impenetrable darkness of right-wing populism.

No visual stimuli

An additional effect is that you experience music more intensely if you are not distracted by visual stimuli. This may be diametrically opposed to the current trend of using images and creating installation art, but Haas uses it to good effect. Solstices and the Ninth String Quartet are even performed in pitch-black darkness from start to finish. Solstices premiered last February and received rave reviews.

A grand piano plays the leading role. It is in the so-called ‘just intonation’, which means that all intervals are microtonal. The ten musicians have to listen intensively to the piano and to each other, to be able to react without any visual support. The piece opens with turbulent, acerbic chords from the piano, intersected with shrill screams of trombone and other wind instruments. The exciting swirls at times evoke the atmosphere of in vain.

After about five minutes Haas shifts to a lower gear. The musicians build harmonies of elongated lines, the piano places loose tones in the space. This creates a process of in-depth listening, in which we are almost literally sucked into the wonderful microtonal sound world. This reminds us of the minimalist pieces La Monte Young composed in just intonation in the 1970s.

Unbearably delayed dawn

Haas divides Solstices into segments, which he himself considers to be games and which are introduced by the pianist. The other musicians play fragments learned by heart, but are also allowed to improvise. Together they work towards an immense climax. Building on this, they hold on to a chord for almost five minutes towards the end. Then the light gradually returns; the stronger the light, the softer the music, after which it dies out into thin air.

‘It was as if dawn was about to announce itself, but the music slowed it down in an unbearable way’, one critic wrote after the premiere. ‘The mind moves to strange, sometimes sinister places when it is placed so isolated in the dark.’ Another critic simply referred to an ‘unforgettable listening experience’. Solstices is in any case an experience you won’t easily forget.

The Ninth String Quartet that Haas composed for the Jack Quartet in 2016 is also microtonal.  In this quartet he combines the extraordinary tuning with sizzling arches of tension and a great sense of musical drama. The Italian Quarteto Maurice guarantees a glowing performance.

– So off to Den Bosch it is!

2 November Riot Ensembles Solstices
8 Novemer Quarteto Maurice String Quartet nr. 9

#GeorgFriedrichHaas #NovemberMusic #QuartetoMaurice #RiotEnsemble

‘Wikileaks has never been caught on a single error’ – Iris ter Schiphorst writes Assange: Fragmente einer Unzeit

IristerSchiphorst (c) Bettina Stoess

‘There is an information war going on at the moment, which shows how important data are. The Assange case is the most poignant example of this,’ says the Dutch-German composer Iris Ter Schiphorst.

She addresses this theme in Assange: Fragmente einer Unzeit (‘Assange: Fragments from a Bad Time’) that will be premiered by Ensemble Modern in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ on 7 November. The following day the piece will again be performed in the festival November Music.

Ter Schiphorst has a mission: ‘Although Wikileaks has never been caught on one single mistake, Assange is accused of espionage and treason, and is prosecuted as a criminal. In both England and America, politicians are trying to amend the laws on freedom of speech, so that unwelcome information can be regarded as subversive and dangerous to the state. This concerns us all.’

What characterises you as a composer?

‘I deal with subjects that make me angry, most of the time these are “extra-musical” at first sight. In my ensemble work Zerstören I (‘Destroying’) I react to the attack on the Twin Towers. This led to the emergence of a new form of irrationality, in which politicians revert to primitive violence. At the same time, various religions are establishing themselves as guardians of archaic norms and values. This is a fatal and frightening development, especially for women.’

‘In my documentary music theatre play Volk unter Verdacht (‘The people as suspects’) I discuss the methods of the State Security Service in the German Democratic Republic. – On a broader level there are scary parallells with the constant camera surveillance we are under nowadays.’

‘In Das Imaginäre nach Lacan I reflect on our ways of absorbing information. A singer recites excerpts from classical Arab poetry, now dressed in Arabic, then in Western attire. She often literally repeats her verses, only clad in a different outfit. Thus, I pose the question whether we are independent in our perception or whether we are guided by prejudice. In Meine kleine Lieder (‘My Little Songs’), I address the shift to alt-right in present-day Germany.’

‘Assange: Fragmente einer Unzeit is about the threat to our freedom as individuals. It’s about the attack on freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and on a deeper level about the danger that threatens us all when the law suddenly ceases to apply. The case of Julian Assange illustrates most poignantly what happens when someone proclaims “unpleasant” truths.’

‘Assange is an award-winning Australian journalist who acts as spokesman for the Wikileaks platform, which was founded in 2006. This website offers investigative journalists the opportunity to denounce abuses anonymously. Since then, the platform has revealed many things. Such as the abuses in Guantánamo Bay, how Western states wage war on the basis of fake news, how they create tax havens, manipulate elections and silence whistle-blowers.’

Artists must speak out

‘Unfortunately, many people seem to be only moderately interested in this, but it concerns us all. To speak with Edward Snowden: “When revealing a crime is treated as a crime, we are ruled by criminals.” Now journalists are being prosecuted and even murdered, the importance of transparency is greater than ever. We must speak out as artists, because nothing less than the future of investigative journalism and press freedom is at stake.’

How did you set up your composition?

‘I use short excerpts from speeches and statements made by politicians on the Assange case. I have edited these recordings and and programmed them for a sampler, which is operated by one of the pianists. At the same time I try to express in the music itself how much this situation worries me. For instance, the music often drowns out the solo soprano, even though she sings amplified. The whole affair makes me so upset because it is clear that this form of disenfranchisement can affect us all.’

Ensemble Modern / Enno Poppe
Iris ter Schiphorst: Fragmente einer Unzeit; Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, 7 November 8.15 pm; Den Bosch Verkadefabriek 8 November 8.45: world premiere.
On 7 November Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ organizes a free public rehearsal from 4.30-5 pm, after which I will speak with Ter Schiphorst and conductor Enno Poppe.

#AssangeFragmenteEinerUnzeit #EnsembleModern #IrisTerSchiphorst #JulianAssange #MuziekgebouwAanTIJ #NovemberMusic

Seung-Won Oh writes Bosch Requiem YeonDo: Korean death ritual in western guise

In 2019 the Greek-Dutch Calliope Tsoupaki composed the Bosch Requiem. For its next edition the Korean-Dutch Seung-Won Oh was asked to compose this traditional kick-off of November Music. The festival was cancelled because of Covid-19, but Oh’s requiem will have its belated premiere on 14 November 2021 at the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center in ‘s Hertogenbosch.

Just as Tsoupaki draws inspiration from the musical traditions of her homeland, Oh harks back to her Korean roots. The title YeonDo refers to a death ritual with which Catholic Koreans bid farewell to their loved ones.

The literal translation of YeonDo is ‘Purgatory Prayer’, I learn from Seung-Won Oh a few days before its world premiere. ‘It is a group chant for the dead, whose souls are still awaiting their transfer to heaven. The text consists of Psalms and the Litany of the Saints, which is sung to Korean rhythms and tones.’ In her new piece Oh combines these with elements from the Latin Requiem Mass, once more building a bridge between East and West. 

Seung-Won oh: ‘Yeondo is a group chant for the dead, whose souls are still awaiting their transfer to heaven. The text consists of Psalms and the Litany of the Saints, which is sung to Korean rhythms and tones.’

Western-oriented

The fact that Oh (1969) seeks inspiration in the music and customs of her country of birth is less self-evident than it seems. Born in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, she grew up in a strongly western-oriented society. Like her famous predecessor Isang Yun (1917-1995), she initially composed in a western-modernist idiom.

This was developed after the Second World War during the famous/ infamous Summer courses for new music in Darmstadt. Revolutionaries such as Stockhausen and Boulez banned triads and recognizable rhythms. The so-called ‘serialism’ was henceforth considered the nec plus ultra of composing. Those who wanted to count in the new music did not escape the dictates of this composition method that entailed many inhibitions. – Whether you lived in Asia, Europe or America.

Oh studied at Ewha Womans University and continued her studies in the United States in 1996. ‘Not until I came to the Netherlands five years later to take lessons with Louis Andriessen I began to relate to my cultural background’, she says. ‘That was purely because people enquired about it. I didn’t grow up with Korean music, but was educated in a completely western way.’

Catholic Korea

Once she dived into traditional Korean music, this proved to be an enriching experience. ‘It was pleasant and even comforting to look for my roots. I found I could use a lot of things in my contemporary music, though I didn’t consciously strive to bring East and West together. Nowadays this happens naturally, because I have internalised that culture.’

YeonDo relates to a Catholic Korean death ritual. But, wait a sec, Catholics in Korea? ‘Certainly’, says Oh. ‘Korea counts more Christians than Buddhists. Catholicism was introduced in the eighteenth century during the mighty Josean dynasty. It adhered to neo-Confucianism, including its strict caste system. The Christian conviction that every human being is equal before God was therefore a great threat.’ Despite attempts to eradicate the newly introduced faith, Catholicism persisted. South Korea today has 11% Catholics, the largest percentage in an Asian country.

Seung-won Oh: ‘I didn’t consciously strive to bring East and West together, but nowadays this happens naturally.’

Korean death ritual

Oh was born a Catholic herself, and is still practising. ‘In my childhood, I sang YeonDo at the annual ceremonies with which my family commemorated our ancestors. The singing is intended for the dead and their relatives. As soon as someone dies, the churchgoers gather in the house of the deceased. They stay with the family to help them through the difficult time.’

This farewell ritual lasts about three days. ‘It starts on the day of death and continues until the funeral. During this period people walk in and out and sing YeonDo, hoping that the deceased will go to heaven as soon as possible. As mentioned before, the texts are taken from the Psalms and the Litany of the Saints. Sung in Korean, that is.’

Latin Requiem Mass

The Latin Requiem Mass is named after the opening sentence: ‘Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine’, give them eternal rest, Lord. Oh: ‘I must confess that I only know the Requiem as a musical phenomenon, I have never experienced one myself. The liturgical text does appeal to me, though.’ She does not have a favourite Requiem. Nor has she listened to Requiems composed by predecessors such as Calliope Tsoupaki, Kate Moore and Anthony Fiumara for November Music. ‘I deliberately avoided that, for I did not want to be influenced.’

YeonDo was set for the New European Ensemble, the choir Cappella Pratensis and the alto Helena Rasker. There are three movements of about 20 minutes each. Do not expect swirling polyphonic passages in which choir, ensemble and soloist compete for attention. Rather, the various entities are used alternately, in a kind of call-and-response game that emphasises the ritual atmosphere. This is reinforced by a four-piece percussion ensemble that plays almost continuously.

Visitors are led into the hall to the sound of slow blows on a jing, a large Korean gong. After this introduction, the New European Ensemble gives an instrumental interpretation of a Korean prayer, in unison and in reciting style; the Korean symbols are placed under their notes. Cappella Pratensis then sings the well-known ‘De profundis’ from Psalm 129.

The alto concludes this first movement with a prayer, together with the ensemble and the percussion quartet. Oh: ‘She begs God for mercy with a number of verses from the Requiem, sung in the Korean language. “Give them eternal rest, oh Lord, and let the eternal light illuminate them, Amen.” As the soloist, she represents the voice of us all.’

Percussion quartet as high priest

The percussion quartet takes us through the composition somewhat like a priest. ‘This symbolises the funeral procession’, declares Oh. Only at two moments in the middle section do the percussionists remain silent. Then the choir sings a cappella ‘Deus Deus Meus’ from Psalm 62 and ‘Averte faciam tuam’ from Psalm 50. Only in the third and last movement soloist, choir and ensemble come together, in ‘Ascension’ and ‘Lux Aeterna’.

In this part the audience is invited to participate itself. Halfway through, they are asked to rattle little bells along with the percussionists. Oh: ‘This is a moment of consolation for the dead souls.’ Participating yourself strengthens the sacred atmosphere and increases the listener’s involvement, who can commemorate his or her own loved ones. For the many who weren’t able to purchase a ticket due to the corona-measures, there’s a live stream.

YeonDo concludes with a fourth prayer and an epilogue, performed by the percussion quartet and the ensemble. Oh: ‘Here the music culminates in a sea of sounds that represent how the spirits ascend freely to heaven.’

This article was updated in October 2021: YeonDo will be premiered on 14 November in November Music 2021, and will be repeated 18 November in Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam.

Update June 2022: YeonDo was awarded the Kees van Baaren Prize by The Hague City Council. The prize will be handed to her on 17 June 2023 in the Festival Dag in de Branding.

#BoschRequiemYeonDo #CappellaPratensis #HelenaRasker #NewEuropeanEnsemble #NovemberMusic #SeungWonOh