Concertzender Newsletter

Editorial

The Concertzender in November: serenades, Turkish craze, the Second Viennese School, jazz from New Orleans and much more

Another new month, packed with music from all corners of the globe and for all ages. This is what makes Concertzender the perfect place for your musical journey of discovery.

Here's a preview of a few of the special broadcasts we've prepared for you in November.

Let us know what surprised you: send a mail to info@concertzender.nl. Our programme makers would love to hear from you!

Saturdays 1, 8 and 15 November

Theme: Early

Beethoven's String Quartets

On Saturday mornings, November 1st, 8th, and 15th, Roaming The Classical Period will focus on Ludwig van Beethoven's string quartets, performed by the Dutch Narratio Quartet.

Narratio Quartet The ensemble — Johannes Leertouwer and Franc Polman (violin), Dorothea Vogel (viola), and Viola de Hoog (cello) — has been working on a complete recording of all sixteen quartets for the past few years, released on nine CDs by Challenge Classics.

In three broadcasts, we will each highlight a different phase of Beethoven's development as a quartet composer: the early quartets around 1800, the middle period with the famous Razumovsky Quartets, and finally the visionary late works from the final years of his life. The Narratio Quartet plays on period instruments and with bows that reflect Beethoven's time, creating a unique color and expressiveness.

Listen: Roaming The Classical Period, broadcast Saturday 1 November.

Listen: Roaming The Classical Period, Saturday 8 November, 11:00 - 12:00 CET.

Listen: Roaming The Classical Period, Saturday 15 November, 11:00 - 12:00 CET.

photographer: Marten Root

Every Friday in November

Theme: Podium Online | Contemporary

(Re)live Muze van Zuid concerts this month on Concertzender Live

Every Friday afternoon this month, you can listen to the concert recordings we made during the eighth edition of Muze van Zuid. The festival took place from September 10th to 14th and had the theme "Amsterdam-Zuid: Free Harbour for Music."

Logo Muze van Zuid During the festival, top musicians, local residents, and artists presented a diverse programme of classical music, jazz, cabaret, and groundbreaking crossovers. Concertzender recorded twelve of these special performances and is broadcasting them this month in four episodes of the programme Concertzender Live.

If you attended the wonderful festival, you can relive it with these broadcasts. If you missed the festival, this is your chance to experience the diversity, quality, and enjoyment of the concerts from this edition of Muze van Zuid.

View the schedule of the four broadcasts here.

Listen: Concertzender Live, Friday 7 November, 14:00 - 16:00 CET.

Listen: Concertzender Live, Friday 14 November, 14:00 - 16:00 CET.

Sunday 2 November

Theme: Contemporary

Serenades by Stravinsky, Bernstein, and Rautavaara

In the new episode of Harmonious, Anton van Kempen focuses on the serenade—a musical genre once intended as evening court music, but which took on a whole new meaning in the twentieth century.

We hear Stravinsky's Serenade in A (1925), written for the 78 rpm record. Each movement had to fit on one side of a 78 rpm record, resulting in a compact, clear piano cycle in four movements. This is followed by Leonard Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's Symposium from 1954—a violin concerto inspired by Plato's dialogue on love. Seven voices resonate in the music: sometimes solemn, sometimes playful, or melancholic. Finally, the moving Deux Sérénades (2016) by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara will be performed, a posthumously performed diptych composed for violinist Hilary Hahn.

Listen: Harmonious, Sunday 2 November, 16:00 - 17:00 CET.

photo: Einojuhani Rautavaara

On demand

Theme: Classical

Turkish craze in Europe

In the weekly programme Sanssouci, Wouter van Steenbeek focuses on the 'turqueries', the Turkish craze in European art.

Sanssouci: turqueries For centuries, the Turkish empire had been a source of fear. After the ferocious horsemen from the east converted to Islam, they founded an empire that encompassed large parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. But as Turkey was increasingly pushed back, this exotic land became a source of fascination. In European art—paintings, literature, music—the country is depicted as raw and barbaric, but also as exciting and exotic.

We hear several of these aspects reflected in this Sanssouci. In Western operas and the like, Turkish music is always presented as wild marching music with lots of drums and other percussion. This is due to the military music of the janissaries. But the Turks also knew very different music. Classical Turkish music is, in fact, very subtle. We'll hear Mozart, Cannabich, and Gréty, as well as two pieces from the Turkish tradition, composed by Sultan Selim III himself.

Listen: Sanssouci, broadcast Saturday 1 November.

Fridday 7 November

Theme:Global (World)

El Mundo – a musical trip around the world

In the programme El Mundo, Ab de Haas takes you on another musical journey around the world. Expect an hour filled with a mix of musical styles, starting with the music of Che Sudaka.

Everything about this beloved cult band exudes a sense of globality. They play ‘mestizo’, a blend of reggae, punk, cumbia and ska, and have performed in nearly fifty countries over the last twenty years.

The musical journey continues via Canada, Buenos Aires, and Mali, and—as is often the case in El Mundo—also briefly back to the Netherlands. Finally, a special excursion to Wales and Senegal. In short, in just one hour, you visit the whole world.

Listen: El Mundo, Friday 7 November, 19:00 - 20:00 CET.

Wednesday 12 November

Theme: Contemporary

1925 – Compositions from the Second Viennese School

In The Last Century, you'll hear music composed precisely one hundred years ago by the three leading figures of the Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg.

Berg, Schönberg, Webern Schoenberg's Suite für Klavier, Op. 25, is one of the first works to fully employ the twelve-tone technique, but is in the form of a Baroque suite. Webern's compact Satz für Streichtrio is then performed and is followed by Berg's monumental Kammerkonzert for violin, piano and thirteen wind instruments—a piece full of mathematical structures and musical references to his teacher, Schoenberg.

As a lighthearted finale, programme maker Niklaas Hoekstra presents Schoenberg's surprising arrangement of Strauss's famous Kaiserwalzer.

Listen: The Last Century, Wednesday 12 November, 19:00 - 20:00 CET.

photo: Berg, Schoenberg, Webern

Thursday 6 November

Theme: World of Jazz

Jazz from New Orleans: Congo Square Radio

Our new jazz station, World of Jazz, offers plenty of room for exceptional jazz on the radio. One of the new programmes is Congo Square Radio, compiled by Dutch jazz icon Michael Varekamp.

Fats Waller Every two weeks, he presents music from New Orleans, the world's musical melting pot, and the cradle of jazz and all its branches. The seeds of jazz in New Orleans were sown in Congo Square – now known as Louis Armstrong Park.

A homecoming, you could say, because almost fifteen years ago, Michael and his buddy Wiboud Burkens also produced programmes for the Concertzender. The love affair with the Concertzender wasn’t over though. Listen carefully to the opening theme of World of Jazz… do you recognize Michael and Wiboud's playing?

Listen: Congo Square Radio, Thursday 6 November, 21:00 - 22:00 CET.

Read more information about Michael Varekamp here (in Dutch).

photo: Fats Waller

On demand

Theme: World of Jazz

Pocket Concert - This month in our studio: NIA

NIA (Ralinova) is a singer and cellist who combines her two instruments—her voice and the cello—into a signature sound.

In 2024, she released her debut single, 111, which launched her career as a musician. In addition to her own work, Nia is active in various projects at the intersection of jazz, soul, R&B, folk and contemporary music. With 111 as her first official release and new material in development, Nia Ralinova is establishing herself as both a songwriter and performer.

Supported by Anton de Bruin and Marijn van de Ven, she continues to work on a body of work that combines her background as a cellist with her growing presence as a singer and bandleader.