Dé Nederlander bestaat niet - Calefax

 

My favourite woodwind ensemble played an interesting programme last night in Amsterdam. The title translates as "The Dutchman doesn't exist", with emphasis on the first word. It is a quote from a speech a member of the royal family gave five years ago when she presented an official study about Dutch national identity. It probably wasn't meant as an overtly political statement at the time, but it seems to have become quite controversial. Anyway, this Dutch ensemble uses the phrase to celebrate the many foreign contributions to Dutch music over the centuries. Mostly, the contemporary pieces are original compositions and the older ones arrangements by members of Calefax.



Calefax Rietkwintet

    oboe: Oliver Boekhoorn
    clarinet: Ivar Berix
    alto saxophone: Raaf Hekkema
    bass clarinet: Jelte Althuis
    bassoon: Alban Wesly
 

Dé Nederlander bestaat niet

Pietro Locatelli (1695-1764) - Introduttione teatrale op. 4 no. 1
Klas Torstensson (b. 1951) - Prelude & Encores
Solage (late 14th century) - Fumeux Fume
Ron Ford (b. 1959) - Can vei la lauzeta mover
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) - Fantasia chromatica
Johann Wilhelm Wilms (1772-1847) - Rondo from Sinfonia no. 4 in c minor, op. 23
Frank Martin (1890-1974) - Trois airs populaires Irlandaises
Graham Fitkin (b. 1963) - Compel
Willy Rex (for Willy Alberti, 1926-1985) - Als een wilde orchidee

Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, live broadcast on Radio 4 (NL), 22 November 2012

A few world premieres

For a change, I'd like to present a couple of recent live concerts, each of which contains at least one work that had its first public performance on this occasion. These are radio broadcasts.

Calefax Reed Quintet:
Oliver Boekhoorn - oboe
Ivar Berix - clarinet
Raaf Hekkema - altosax
Jelte Althuis - bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet
Alban Wesly - bassoon

with Ivo Janssen - piano

Theo Loevendie (*1930) - Ritorno (2012) (world premiere)
Hans Abrahamsen (*1952) - Walden (1978; revised version for reed quintet, 1995)
Klas Torstensson (*1951) - Prelude & Encores (2012) (world premiere)
Yannis Kyriakides (*1969) - Hypothetical Islands (2012) (world premiere)
Carola Bauckholt (*1959) - Zugvögel (2012) (premiered in Witten just a couple of weeks earlier)
Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) - Three Studies for Player Piano (arr. Raaf Hekkema): nos 11, 3b, 7 (plus no. 3c as an encore)

Muziekgebouw aan't IJ, Amsterdam, 3 May 2012

* * *

Members of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern:
Grigory Mordashov - flute
Veit Stolzenberger - oboe
Rainer Müller-van Recum - clarinet
Benoit Gausse - horn
Guilhaume Santana - bassoon

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) - La cheminée du roi René op. 205
Giulio Briccialdi (1818-1881) - Wind quintet no. 1 in D op. 124
Vito Žuraj (*1979) - Wind quintet (world premiere)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) - Fantasy in f KV 608 (arr. Wolfgang Sebastian Meyer)
Jean Françaix (1912-1997) - Wind quintet no. 1

HfM University of Music, Saarbrücken, 6 June 2012

Gambaro, Wind Quartets - Consortium Classicum

Vincent (Vincenzo) Gambaro (17??-18??):
Quatuor Concertant No.1 in E Flat Major
Quatuor Concertant No.2 in C Minor
Quatuor Concertant No.3 in F Major
Quatuor Concertant in E Flat Major (d'après compositions de Ludwig van Beethoven)

Consortium Classicum:
Sarah Willis (French Horn), Dieter Klöcker (Clarinet), Kornelia Brandkamp (Flute), Karl-Otto Hartmann (Bassoon)


"Wind bands proliferated throughout early 19th-century Europe, providing charming if largely undemanding light entertainment in noble households. These four of Gambaro’s 16 quartets, fluently played and very subtly balanced, are delightfully unpretentious yet with moments of witty and delightful invention."
George Pratt (BBC Music Magazine)


This CD appeared over a decade ago and stocks seem to be running very low now.