THE ROAD TO HERE is a festive, musical procession through the four seasons for two trumpets, horn, trombone and organ, inspired by ›Die Nelken-Reihe‹ by Pina Bausch

I composed THE ROAD TO HERE in 2018 at the request of brass quartet Ottoni on the occasion of their 25th anniversary. It consists of five short parts: (1) Parade, (2) Spring, (3) Summer, (4) Autumn and (5) Winter. The work has now been performed seven times.

Musicians

Peter Leydekkers and Hans van Eijk, trumpets; Bart Brinksma, horn; Peter van Os, trombone and Wybe Kooijmans, organ

Programme

The programme also includes works by Hendrik Andriessen, Heinrich Biber, Déodat de Séverac and Marius Monnikendam.

Where and when

Saturday 6 October | 15:30, Buiksloterkerk, Amsterdam-Noord
Saturday 19 October | 20:00, Walburgiskerk, Zutphen
Sunday 20 October | 16:00, Mariakerk (Koepelkerk), Bussum

Tags: Ottoni, Pina Bausch

9. How critical can one be?

I don't believe I was put on this earth to listen to my own music.
Sometimes I hear too much lyricism and too little construction, other times too much construction and too little lyricism.
All this to my great dissatisfaction!

When conductor Jos Leussink asked Mauricio Kagel if he was happy with the performance, he replied that he was very happy, but never satisfied. (»Glücklich, ja! Zufrieden, nie!«)

By the way, I believe I am a lyrical constructivist.
Lyrical because the word precedes all art, constructivist because I, as a listener and composer, want to be present at the forming of a work of music.

>> writings

Tags: Jos Leussink, Kagel

Wat ik moet onthouden (7)

Ik moet onthouden dat »in de democratie het centrum van de macht onbezet [is], het Altaar blijft leeg. Van de volwassen burger wordt eigenlijk niet meer en niet minder verwacht dan dat hij die leegte erkent en respecteert. Ermee leert leven.«
[Arnon Grunberg: ›Wie de liberale democratie verdedigt, verdedigt haar zwaktes‹, in NRC 2 april 2022]

»In democracy the center of power is unoccupied, the Altar remains empty. In fact, no more and no less is expected of the adult citizen than to recognize and respect that emptiness. Learn to live with it.«
[Arnon Grunberg: ›Whoever defends liberal democracy, defends its weaknesses‹, in NRC April 2, 2022]

Wat ik moet onthouden (8)

Ik moet deze uitspraak van Goethe onthouden: »So sind die Anfänge aller Schauspielkunst. Der rohe Mensch ist zufrieden, wenn er nur etwas vorgehen sieht; der gebildete will empfinden, und Nachdenken ist nur dem ganz ausgebildeten angenehm«.
[Goethe, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre]
Mooi om te lezen. Want mij gaat het om alle drie: muziek die iets laat gebeuren, je iets laat ervaren en je laat nadenken.

Tags: Grunberg, Goethe

Tree of Modes, the classical classification of the modes of Andalusian music, excerpted from the manuscript al-Haiek from the library Daúd in Tetuán.

Muziek voor twee klarinetten (›Une Séparation‹) [Music for two clarinets] will be performed by ›Duo Grenadil‹, the clarinetists Fred Ruoff & Hans Witteman on January 18, 2024 | 12:30 in Theater Ludens, Voorburg.