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"Kamerkoor fantastic" in Cantique des Cantiques
23.05.2011We were overjoyed finally to get another chance to work with our principal guest conductor Peter Dijkstra, in a series of four concerts between 11 and 14 May. As a choral conductor, and one of Holland's greatest talents, he has now spread his wings as far as the rest of Europe and beyond. He is chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir and of the Bavarian Broadcasting Chorus, and also appears as guest conductor with numerous choirs and orchestras. "Peter Dijkstra is a rising star in the choral world, and more than lived up to his growing reputation in this collaboration with the Kamerkoor, which has been operating in the upper regions of the vocal world for well over half a century" (Parool.)
Dijkstra came to Amsterdam to conduct us in a programme of poetic French works by Poulenc, Durufl�, Daniel-Lesur and De Leeuw, with concerts in Leeuwarden, Haarlem, Arnhem and Amsterdam. The most important theme of the programme was Love, in all its forms, from tender to passionate, from earthly to the spiritual love between man and God. �In the beginning it�s complicated music,� said Peter Dijkstra in an interview with the Volkskrant, �and towards the end nothing less than seduction.�
For both choir and audience it was a special experience to see Dijkstra in action. He has been commended for his amazing ability to �mould� a choir�s sound, and during this project he experimented with a different arrangement of the singers, with the low voices in front and the high ones behind them. By this means �the Nederlands Kamerkoor achieved an astute balance and a beautiful, slightly veiled sound� (Haarlems Dagblad.)
�Le Cantique des Cantiques (the biblical Song of Songs) is considered to be Daniel-Lesur�s masterpiece. The expressiveness of this piece, based on subtle differences of colour, clearly emerged from the splendid performance by the Nederlands Kamerkoor in the Muziekgebouw on Saturday� (Parool.) �The Nederlands Kamerkoor in top form� (Leeuwarder Courant.)
It was especially pleasing that A cette heure du jour by Ton de Leeuw made such an impression. This Dutch composer felt audibly at home in the French idiom. The piece possesses a �subtly developed 12-part texture, which produces surprising colours and details� (Parool;) �a breathtakingly beautiful work, an almost religious experience, in which the various voices sounded as if they had been orchestrated� (Leeuwarder Courant.) �Here too you felt privileged to be allowed to hear this piece performed by this choir under this conductor, Peter Dijkstra� (Friesch Dagblad.)
Durufl��s Four Motets employ old plainsong melodies, which the choir �allowed to flow beautifully� (Haarlems Dagblad.) Soprano Heleen Koele was �the magnificent soprano soloist� (Friesch Dagblad) in the Mass in G by Poulenc. �The Mass in G by Francis Poulenc is more timeless and classicistic than antique or exotically tinted, and the imagination with which this composer breathed life into that basic principle made this mass � which was also performed fantastically � the pinnacle of a first-rate evening� (Parool.)
Volkskrant, 11 May 2011
�I experiment with sound� � Interview with Peter Dijkstra by Bela Luttmer
Friesch Dagblad, 12 May 2011
�Ton de Leeuw is more French than the French� � Dingeman van Wijnen
Leeuwarder Courant, 12 May 2011
�Religious feelings with Kamerkoor� � Ingrid Metz
Haarlems Dagblad, 14 May 2011
�Kamerkoor befuddles the senses� � Winand van de Kamp
Parool, 16 May 2011
�Kamerkoor fantastic with rising star Dijkstra� (4/5) � Roeland Hazendonk
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