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Account of the Nederlandse Muziekdagen 2008
12.11.2008The Nederlandse Muziekdagen 2008 are over. For more than twenty years now this festival dedicated to - and usually on behalf of - Dutch music, has been an occasion many musical colleagues, and far too few ordinary music-lovers, have looked forward to. And this year it took place for the first time in the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the concert hall where such an event belongs, and should be able to become a genuine celebration.
Although this year again too few of the general public were present, and the Muziekgebouw didn’t quite achieve that festive atmosphere appropriate to such an occasion, nonetheless it was a celebration, since programmer Micha Hamel had made a varied, even unconventional selection of contemporary Dutch music, with a conspicuous number of first performances, such as the Piano Concerto Echo 13.7 by Jan Vriend, a magnificent piece for wind instruments by Daan Manneke, Martijn Padding’s First Harmonium Concerto and new compositions from Anke Brouwer, Rozalie Hirs en Calliope Tsoupaki.
The Nederlands Kamerkoor, conducted by Klaas Stok, had the honour and privilege of performing two new short choral works by Jan Vriend, as well as presenting him with the splendid new CD of his great cycles Du, Dich, Dir and Entre el olivo y el hombre. The choir also sang the new work EDEM by Calliope Tsoupaki, with the ASKO/Schönberg Ensemble, conducted by Hans Leenders.
The new cd..
Het Parool commended the Nederlands Kamerkoor and Klaas Stok on their performances of Vriend’s choral works, but found Tsoupaki’s EDEM too ‘sweet’; Trouw recognised a fresh young authenticity in her work, and Thea Derks wrote in her Radio 4 weblog: “The absolute high point of these Nederlandse Muziekdagen was the new work by Calliope Tsoupaki. In EDEM for mixed choir and ensemble she created with just a few instruments a rich and warm orchestral sound, whilst the choir sang heavenly lines, which transported the listeners irrevocably, and enticed them towards the Garden of Eden referred to in the title. Tsoupaki has a most original voice, in which she effortlessly combines the Byzantine singing tradition with modern dissonance, as she already demonstrated last summer in her Lucas Passion, with which she scored such a hit during the Holland Festival.”
Despite all the uproar concerning the subsidy decisions by the NFPK+ (Dutch Fund for the Performing Arts) and the difficult period the Nederlands Kamerkoor has been experiencing as a result, the performances were scintillating and virtuosic, as befits an internationally renowned ensemble! [LS]
Jan Vriend
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