News

Drama and Romanticism with Kamerkoor

15.04.2009

Poppen favoured a rarefied and static performance of Pärt’s Te Deum, over against a dramatic, supple, surprisingly youthful vision of Schubert’s final Mass in E-flat major. “A musical feast enjoyed by both the Kamerkoor and the audience”, wrote the Leeuwarder Courant. “The concert, however sharp its contrasts, was a treat for the ears.” And there was praise from all sides for the five soloists from the Nederlands Kamerkoor (photo below), Helena van Heel (soprano), Karin van der Poel (mezzo-soprano), Albert van Ommen en Stefan Berghammer (tenor) en Kees Jan de Koning (bass).

Bach Motets in the Zaterdagmatinee

After Pät and Schubert it was Bach’s turn. The Nederlands Kamerkoor has acquired an excellent reputation for performing Bach’s Motets. On this occasion the choir sang two motets, conducted by its choirmaster Klaas Stok, whilst Edo de Waart conducted the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in compelling performances of works by Franz Schmidt and Johannes Brahms. The combination proved particularly successful and evocative. Klaas Stok achieved with the choir a special kind of linguistic expressivity, which contrasted perfectly with Edo de Waart’s magnificent performances of the orchestral works.

The latest crop of Holland’s finest

One of the tasks of the Nederlands Kamerkoor is regularly to place a finger on the pulse of contemporary Dutch music. This proves time and time again to be an exciting adventure. The commissions have been given, the results are unknown. Until the first scores arrive and you get a glimpse of what no-one else has yet heard – except the composer, of course.

(Click photo for a larger version)

Thanks to financial support from the Netherlands Fund for Performing Arts+, Elmer Schönberger, Eric Verbugt, Matthias Kadar and Bernard van Beurden produced four very different scores, whose music continued to grow during the course of six performances and to open up new horizons. The programme was also broadcast live from the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ on Dutch Radio 4 (you can listen to this broadcast here) and was recorded for TV in the Bimhuis by the VPRO (for the Vrije Geluiden programme) to be broadcast on May 3rd and 10th.

It turned out that everyone had their own preference when it came to this programme: some preferred the explosive luxuriance of sound from Eric Verbugt, some the linguistic intimacy of Matthias Kadar, and others Bernard van Beurden’s colourful four-choir sound or Elmer Schönberger’s harmonic tautness and poetic nobility. Illness forced Micha Hamel to withdraw as conductor, and he was replaced at very short notice by a highly motivated Kaspars Putninsh. Fortunately Hamel’s choral work Schizophrenic Girl had been written at a much earlier date, and thus the programme could conclude with a composition which, according to the Volkskrant, “tripped effortlessly off the tongues of the singers”.

[LS]