Concertzender Newsletter

»This e-mail contains images, if you cannot see them, go to the online version
»Lees de Nederlandse versie

Newsletter November 2018

Focus on melancholy

Be honest: sometimes it just isn’t going well. Outside the rain is pounding on the windows and inside we’re not looking forward to all those coming party rituals. And we’re not even into January. Fortunately we have the Concertzender. Week van de weemoed

This month we’re paying particualr attention to melancholy. You’ll recognise it : that surplus of black bile,causing unfocussed sighing, aimless gazing out the window and otherwise nothing special. Or perhaps? Because you don’t need to be called Schubert to recognise melancholy as a goldmine of beautiful music from all genres, periods and countries.

From 26th to 30th November inclusive the Concertzender wil be presenting the Week of Melancholy. For every working day betweeen 9 and 10 Sjaak Roodenburg has selected one of his favourite episodes from his Palace of Melancholy, ...

» read more

Roots at the Zaan

In Disc-Cover for November: Gryphon

Four young Brits with a good idea : happens quite often. But when four folk musicians go to a harpsichord, harmonium, horn, a crumhorn and recorders it’s quickly obvious something special is going on. Gryphon is born.

In 1974 the band from Cambridge records legendary albums such as Midnight Mushrumps and Red Queen to Gryphon Tree and the group is on the introduction programme for YES during their world tour.

» read more

Roots at the Zaan (2): Lorcan Mac Mathuna plays Folk at the Zaan

A year ago we brought your attention to the Irish singer and composer Lorcan Mac Mathuna. Good news: on Friday 21st December from 20.15 Mac Mathuna will be playing with Daire Bracken (violin) and Martin Tourish (accordeon) exclusively for Folk aan de Zaan, in concerthall De Kleine Waarheid in Zaandam. And even better, the Concertzender is giving away a free ticket!

Lorcan Mac Mathuna is an innovator who respects tradition. His singing is based on the sean-nos, a traditional, strongly ornamented style of singing with powerful melodies. But Mac Mathuna adds instruments in, both from the Folk tradition such as a clarinet and electronics.The result fits within the Irish folk genre, but the influence of classical music, rock, pop, jazz and even avant-garde are evident.

» read more

New series: the history of the String Quartet

Beginning on 4th November every Sunday afternoon between 14.00 and 15.00 the Concertzender will be broadcasting an episode of its new series‘The String Quartet’.

The series will be compiled and presented by Leo Samama, whose book Het Strijkkwartet was published in 2018. The series will follow the main chapters of the book and provides an oversight of the development of the string quarter from its beginning to the present. In the programmes the emphasis will be on the musical sounds.

All episodes of 'The String Quartet' can be found on the Concertzender website and via our app.

Melancholia for string quartet: Villiers Stanford

The 15th episode of “Unknown is Unloved”, which in itself appeals to feelings of melancholy, is consecrated to two string quartets by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924).

The Irish VanBrugh Quartet plays his fifst string quartet, opus 44 in g minor and the second quartet, opus 45, number 4, in a minor.

When?
27 november form 18.00 to 19.00.

Early Music in the Week of Melancholy

Melancholy has always been associated black bile. The Harmony of the Spheres and the planet Saturn in particular were associated with serious melancholy. Many composers have set this theme to music. In the Week of Melancholy we’re playing some examples, interspersed with other music of a different mood.

Monday 26th November

13.00: ‘ Bach ad Infinitum' with among others Cantate BWV 181 “Komm du süsse Todesstunde”. The rest of the Bachweek (Monday to Friday at 13.00-14.00) is also devoted to melancholy .

18.00 : ‘Nuove Musiche’ with the cd ‘Johannes Tinctoris – Secret Consolations’ by the ensemble Le Miroir de Musique led by Baptiste Romain

» read more

Humperdinck’s Junge Lieder

Wednesday 28th November the programma Keizerswals (‘Kaiser Waltz’) focuses on the late 19th century composer Engelbert Humperdinck.

Six of his melancholic songs from the cycle ‘Junge Lieder’ (1888), on poems by Moritz Leiffmann will be performed by Thomas Bauer, baritone and pianist Uta Hielscher.

Fourfold Melancholy: Schubert

Strictly Classic on Wednesday 28th November is totally dedicated to melancholy. Firstly the Trauersymphonie nr 44 in e (Hob1:44) by Joseph Haydn, performed by the Concertgebouw Kamerorkest under conductor Marco Boni.

Thereafter four examples of melancholy, with works by Franz Schubert:

Wonne der Wehmut D 260, op. posth. 115 no. 2 by Anne Sofie von Otter and Bengt Forsberg.
Wehmut D 404, by Matthias Goerne, Helmuth Deutsch, and
Wehmut. D 772, by Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, baritone, accompanied by Sviatoslav Richter, piano.
And finally Wehmut, D 825 by Die Singphoniker.

» read more

Radio Romantica plays Rheinberger

Radio Romantica will be covering Joseph Rheinberger on 27th November. As composer and professor of composition in Munich he played an important role in the second half of the 19th century in the musical life of Munich, Bavaria and surrounds.

In Rheinbergers Cantus Missae for double choir a-cappella and his Requiem in d, written a year before his death in 1901, melancholy is not far away.

When?
Radio Romantica – Tuesday 27th November 2018 from 19.00 to 20.00.

On 27 November: the night of Torch Songs

What could sound more melancholy than unfulfilled longings? The English has the phrase: To carry a torch for someone, which means something like being in love with someone who is out of reach. During the evening of 27/28th November the Concertzender will be holding a special Jazznight, devoted to so-called ‘Torch Songs’.There have been hundres of songs about this theme.

During this evening you’ll hear a number of these Torch Songs performed by various female vocalists.

Sought: Play places for RadioLAB and RadioKast

The Concertzender has two splendid educative projects specially for kids: RadioLAB and RadioKast. In 2019 we’re looking for locations where kids with Kast and Laboratorium can make radio themselves. We already have good contacts in Utrecht, but in addition other tips to book projects would be welcome.

RadioLAB (or PodcastLAB) is a workshop for children between 8 and 14 . Participants get a speed course in making radio and thereafter make their own radio programme. They interview one another and transition from one programme to another. The workshop has become a minor phenomon in the theatre and festival world. Everything is recorded and placed online , so they can listen back and let others hear.

» read more

Homegrown 2018: new Dutch music

Composers and improvisers in Holland often publish their work on cd or lp. During 2018 there was a lot of new work published, sometimes self-published, sometimes on existing labels home and abroad. In this Theme broadcast you can hear exclusively Dutch sound materials, mostly published this year.

The broadcast includes the brand new lp by the experimental music ensemble Maciunas, started by the well-known Eindhoven sound artist Paul Panhuysen. From Thomas Ankersmit you can hear his spectacular ode to music pioneer Dick Raaijmakers, and the recently published music by Tobias Klein and the duo Bart van Dongen/Richard van Kruysdijk.

When?
Wednesday 28-11-18, 20.00-22.00.

Melancholic Weather Forecast: very rainy, with an occasional tear

Een 'Connie' op Schiphol The Palace of Melancholy is a warm shelter and musical refuge for those who love forgotten beauty, curiosities, and lost sounds from the period 1925 to 1970. A talk with programme maker a.k.a Palace Guardian, Sjaak Roodenburg.

jaak, why the melancholy ?
“It started with Connie. As a young child I saw lovely American cars with wings, white tyres, and a red steering wheel riding around . And KLM still flew with Connies: elegant Super-Constellations with three tails, a fuselage in the shape of a dolphin and a gorgeous dark brown engine noise.”

» read more

Prize draw

Last month, we asked the correct answer to the question which piano Guy Livingston plays on his album 60x60x60. The answer: a Fazioli.

The winner: Cornelis Pronk from Groningen. prijsvraag

This months’ prize question is in two parts:

Who completed Frederick the Great’s Summer Palace in Potsdam?
and from which country did the architect come??

Answers must be sent in by 15th December. If you answer both questions correctly you could win...

» read more

Concertzender people: In memoriam Jan Kruit

Recently two Concertzender-colleagues passed away. Colleagues share memories and anecdotes of Jan Kruit and Bart de Neeve. typmachine

Beatrijs Vissers:
“Jan had a typewriter without the letter A . He wrote that in by hand, often with a red pen. That gave his production form cachet. The other programme makers wrote theirs using forms and on the computer. Not Jan. We never managed to persuade him to use the standard production forms. You could never visit him at home. We exchanged material for the programmes at the busstop, after we moved to Hilversum.”

» read more

Concertzender people: In memoriam Bart de Neeve

Last October Bart de Neeve passed away, Concertzender-colleague from the very start Sem de Jongh shares memories and anecdotes about him.

Our faithful colleague Bart de Neeve passed away recently. I was very close to Bart, we worked together for 18 years. He started in 2000 working for my department at the time, Concert Recordings. He completed a huge job: digitising and archiving 5000 recordings.

Among them were a lot of old digital tapes and it required huge amounts of patience to deal with them. There was always something that didn’t work, but Bart had that patience. He appeared to have a very relaxed attitude to life. If it wasn’t going well, or the computer didn’t work yet again, he just shrugged his shoulders and went home. He’d be back the next week, hopeful that it would all work this time.

» read more