Skip to main content
Nederlands

World premiere

Circulus/Coro

Robin de Raaff, Matthias Pintscher, Ralph van Raat, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Groot Omroepkoor

A piano concert like clockwork 


Piano Concerto no. 2: Circulus is a piano concerto that composer Robin de Raaff wrote especially for master pianist Ralph van Raat. The round shape of the Gashouder, where the piece will be performed, is a major source of inspiration. 


The pianist is at the centre and the audience is situated around the soloist. The space and set-up of the orchestra, partly around the audience, are reminiscent of a clockwork, a powerful metaphor for time. With its direct and indirect references to clocks, Circulus invokes the transitory nature of human life and our place in the universe. Ralph van Raat premiered the first Piano Concerto from Robin de Raaff in 2001 and is now a soloist in his work once again.

Apart from the new composition Circulus, the Italian composer Luciano Berio’s work Coro will be performed as well. Berio wrote this famous work as an indictment against far-right extremism in Italy during the ‘Years of Lead’. The composer conducted the piece himself at the Holland Festival in 1977. It was written for forty duos, each consisting of a singer and an instrumentalist. The exceptional spatial set-up makes for an intense listening experience.

Those wishing to combine this performance with the show 30 appearances out of darkness on Friday, June 10, should book the early performance at 7:00 pm of 30 appearances out of darkness.

Read less

dates

Fri June 10 2022 8:30 PM

prices

  • default from € 48
  • CJP/student € 12

information

  • 1 hour 50 minutes (met 1 pauze)

Read a conversation between Ralph van Raat and Robin de Raaff here.

Background

With Circulus, De Raaff builds on the many successful concertos in his repertoire, which include Clarinet Concerto (2005-2006), Piano Concerto (2001) and Dubbelconcert voor klarinet, basklarinet en orkest (1997). The concerto form is a common thread in De Raaff’s oeuvre. The soloist stands opposite the orchestra like an individual facing off with a crowd. De Raaff creates variation in depth by positioning the music in different layers opposite each other. The difference between foreground and background, and the interaction between these two dimensions, reaches a climax in Circulus. The composer sticks to some of his strongest musical qualities, like his dynamic play of movement and a skilful and brilliant orchestration that is reminiscent of great names like Strauss, Debussy, Boulez and George Benjamin. 


Read a conversation between Ralph van Raat and Robin de Raaff here.

Background

With Circulus, De Raaff builds on the many successful concertos in his repertoire, which include Clarinet Concerto (2005-2006), Piano Concerto (2001) and Dubbelconcert voor klarinet, basklarinet en orkest (1997). The concerto form is a common thread in De Raaff’s oeuvre. The soloist stands opposite the orchestra like an individual facing off with a crowd. De Raaff creates variation in depth by positioning the music in different layers opposite each other. The difference between foreground and background, and the interaction between these two dimensions, reaches a climax in Circulus. The composer sticks to some of his strongest musical qualities, like his dynamic play of movement and a skilful and brilliant orchestration that is reminiscent of great names like Strauss, Debussy, Boulez and George Benjamin. 


By combining Circulus with Coro from Luciano Berio, the audience has an extraordinary sensory experience in which the sound spectrum and spatial arrangement of both compositions take centre stage. Both works are conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

About Coro
‘With Berio, vortices sometimes arise that literally drag everything down,’ wrote music critic J. Reichenfeld when describing the effect of Coro at the Dutch premiere in 1977 in NRC Handelsblad. ‘But Berio’s Coro can also be very quiet: what remains is the porous lament of a single voice that swells to a breath-taking prayer for a cappella singing: smothered, almost sobbing with emotion. At other times, extended climaxes are compressed into claustrophobically abrasive timbres, only to dissolve into refreshing wisdom again.’

Coro (1975-1976) is a composition by the Italian composer Luciano Berio for forty voices and just as many instruments. It is Berio’s most important work from the 1970s and belongs to a class of compositions whose titles indicate they are intended to be a reflection on archetypal music forms: Sinfonia, Opera, Recital I (commentary on the life and work of a female solo singer) and Concerto for two pianos and orchestra. In Coro (Berio’s commentary on the choral symphony genre), the choir rarely performs as a whole. Each singer sits beside a wind or string instrument with a comparable tonal range. This makes for forty duos, but the voices also perform solo or in small unison groups. Coro shows the composer’s politically engaged side where he used texts by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as a tribute to the poet. Neruda, according to Berio, was ‘practically murdered (not physically, but spiritually); they broke his heart.’ He also called it ‘an invitation to become aware of the violence of the age, the fascist violence.’


Read less

  • © Marco Borggreve (Robin de Raaff)

  • Circulus/Coro

  • Ralph van Raat

    © Heather Pinkham (Ralph van Raat)

credits

music Robin de Raaff, Luciano Berio piano Ralph van Raat conductor Matthias Pintscher light design Peter Romkema orchestra Radio Philharmonic Orchestra 1st violin Dimiter Tchernookov, Alexander Baev, Roswitha Devrient, Alberto Facanha Johnson, Mariska Godwaldt, Josje ter Haar, Kerstin Kendler, Pamela Kubik, Pedja Milosavljevic, Ruud Wagemakers 2nd violin Casper Bleumers, Sarah Loerkens, Esther de Bruijn, Michiel Eekhof, Wouter Groesz, Dana Mihailescu, Renate van Riel, Alexander van den Tol, Nina de Waal viola Frank Brakkee, Huub Beckers, Arjan Wildschut, Igor Bobylev, Sabine Duch, Annemijn den Herder, Robert Meulendijk, Ewa Wagner cello Michael Stirling, Anton Istomin, Mirjam Bosma, Crit Coenegracht, Anneke Janssen, Ansfried Plat, Arjen Uittenbogaard double bass Wilmar de Visser, Annika Pigorsch, Walter van Egeraat, Eduard Zlatkin flute Ingrid Geerlings, Carla Meijers, Maike Grobbenhaar, Mirjam Teepe oboe Aisling Casey, Yvonne Wolters, Gerard van Andel clarinet Frank van den Brink, Esther Misbeek, Diede Brantjes, Sergio Hamerslag bassoon Jos Lammerse, Freek Sluijs, Birgit Strahl French horn Petra Botma-Zijlstra, Toine Martens, Fréderick Franssen, Margreet Mulder, Rebecca Grannetia trumpet Hessel Buma, Hans van Loenen, Raymond Rook, Johan Verheij trombone Tim Ouwejan, Dominique Capello, Rommert Groenhof tuba Bernard Beniers timpani Paul Jussen percussion Mark Haeldermans, Esther Doornink, Giacoma Bacchio, Inaki Cuenca Ruiz, Jennifer Heins, René Oussoren harp Saskia Rekké saxophone Aukelien Kleinpenning, Annelies Vrieswijk keyboard Stephan Kiefer, Reinier van Houdt choir Groot Omroepkoor chorus conductor Benjamin Goodson soprano Titia van Heyst, Charlotte Janssen, Anitra Jellema, Bauwien van der Meer, Heleen Meijer, Tanja Obalski, Yun Park, Judith Petra, Maja Roodveldt, Dorien Verheijden alto Nicoline Bovens, Marleene Goldstein, Suzanne Meessen, Chantal Nysingh, Marie-Sande Papenmeyer, Anna Traub, Lisinka de Vries, Harda van Wageningen, Roelien van Wageningen, Pierrette de Zwaan tenor Alan Belk, Emilio Aguilar Balbuena, Dolf Drabbels, Ben Heijnen, Gerben Houba, Peter-Paul Houtmortels, Matevž Kajdiž, Albert van Ommen, Uroš Petrac, Georgi Sztojanov bass Gert-Jan Alders, Peter Duyster, Joep van Geffen, Pieter Hendriks, Itamar Lapid, Ludovic Provost, Mitchell Sandler, Lars Terray, Hans de Vries, Tiemo Wang

This performance is made possible by

you might also like

more music