Melodies Unheard by Radio Kamer Filharmonie / Orchestre de Picardie / Het Gelders Orkest / Robin de Raaff

Robin de Raaff

Radio Kamer Filharmonie / Orchestre de Picardie / Het Gelders Orkest / Robin de Raaff

Melodies Unheard

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917276220
Catnr: CC 72762
Release date: 04 May 2018
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917276220

Catalogue number
CC 72762

Release date
04 May 2018

"The result is ultimately a very personal kind of expressionism that is never less than impressive and sometimes beautiful, sometimes overwhelmingly violent. The enormous orchestra is handled with extreme virtuosity."

Records International, 28-11-2018

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

The Dutch composer Robin de Raaff has four symphonies to his name. Will De Raaff follow in the footsteps of tradition, or will he give the name, the form, a new meaning, a new direction?

His symphonies have little to do with the classical concept. Of course, his love for composing was partly derived from the symphonies of composers such as Brahms, Mahler, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and even Bernstein, but De Raaff is too much of a constructivist to write a symphony in the classical sense of the word. De Raaff became more and more convinced there was something to be gained in the concertante form, the orchestra and the soloist, the individual and the crowd. He shies away from prescribed forms and developments, a recapitulated theme followed by various movements with different characters. The symphony, the orchestral apparatus sounding together, telling its story for a period of at least 20 minutes, is what he took as his starting point. Working from there, this led to a reinterpretation of the symphonic form. De Raaff’s Second and Fourth Symphonies are the result of a reinterpretation of works for a soloist or soloist group with accompaniment. They are a revision of the material, reminiscent of the way in which Pierre Boulez let Incises for piano grow into Sur incises for ensemble and how Luciano Berio recomposed a number of his Sequenzas into Chemins.

Dit album bevat drie symfonische werken van een van de belangrijkste huidige Europese vertegenwoordigers van deze muzikale vorm: de Nederlandse componist Robin de Raaff, wiens orkestwerken en opera’s gestaag de aandacht trekken van de muziekwereld. Twee van deze werken zijn eigenlijk concertante werken, waarin een saxofoonkwartet en een sopraan een dialoog aangaan met het orkest.

De Nederlandse componist Robin de Raaff heeft vier symfonieën op zijn naam staan. Zal De Raaff in de voetsporen van de traditie treden, of zal hij de naam, de vorm, een nieuwe betekenis en een nieuwe richting geven?

Zijn symfonieën hebben weinig te maken met het klassieke concept. Zijn liefde voor het componeren is deels voortgekomen uit de symfonieën van componisten als Brahms, Mahler, Sjostakovitsj, Prokofjev en zelfs Bernstein, maar De Raaff is veel te constructivistisch om een symfonie in de klassieke zin van het woord te schrijven. De Raaff werd er meer en meer van overtuigd dat er iets te behalen viel in de concertante vorm, het orkest en de solist, het individu en de menigte. Hij schuwt voorgeschreven vormen en ontwikkelingen, een herhaald thema gevolgd door verschillende delen met verschillende karakters. De symfonie, de samenklank van het orkest, dat gedurende een periode van minstens twintig minuten zijn verhaal vertelt, is wat hij als zijn uitgangspunt nam. Dit leidde tot een herinterpretatie van de symfonische vorm. De Tweede en Vierde Symfonie van De Raaff zijn het resultaat van een herinterpretatie van werken voor een solist of een groep solisten met begeleiding. Zij zijn een herziening van het materiaal, herinnerend aan de manier waarop Pierre Boulez zijn Incises voor piano liet uitgroeien tot Sur incises voor ensemble en de manier waarop Luciano Berio enkele van zijn Sequenzas omschreef tot Chemins.

Der niederländische Komponist Robin de Raaff hat vier Symphonien verfasst. Wird De Raaff den Pfaden der Tradition folgen, oder wird er dem Namen und der Form neue Bedeutung und eine neue Richtung geben?

Seine Symphonien haben mit dem klassischen Gattungskonzept nur wenig zu tun. Seine Liebe für das Komponieren erwuchs zum Teil aus den Symphonien von Komponisten wie Brahms, Mahler, Schostakowitsch, Prokofjew und sogar Bernstein, aber De Raaff ist viel zu sehr Konstruktivist, um eine Symphonie im klassischen Sinne zu schreiben. De Raaff war zunehmend überzeugt vom Gewinn der konzertanten Form, dem Gegenüber von Orchester und Solist, dem Einzelnen und der Menge. Er weicht von vorgeschriebenen Formen und Entwicklungen zurück, einem wiederaufgenommenen Thema gefolgt von verschiedenen Sätzen verschiedenen Charakters. Die Symphonie, der Zusammenklang des Orchesterapparates, der für mindestens 20 Minuten seine Geschichte erzählt, ist sein Ausgangspunkt. Dies führte zu einer Neuinterpretation der symphonischen Form. De Raaffs Zweite und Vierte Symphonien sind das Resultat einer Neuinterpretation von Werken für Solist oder Solistengruppe mit Begleitung. Sie zeigen eine Überarbeitung von Material, die daran erinnert, wie Pierre Boulez Incises für Klavier zu Sur incises für Ensemble wachsen ließ, oder wie Luciano Berio einige seiner Sequenzas zu Chemins umschrieb.

Artist(s)

Robin de Raaff

Robin de Raaff was born on December 5, 1968 in Breda, the Netherlands. He was raised in a very musical family where classical music and popular music were part of his daily life. As a child he received weekly piano lessons from his father and practised daily. De Raaff discovered his own musical world through playing the bass guitar, which he taught himself to play. As a teenager, under the explosive influence of fretless bass guitar legend Jaco Pastorius, De Raaff switched to fretless bass guitar, introducing him to a new world of complex instrumental music, and ultimately Jazz.
But even more passionately, already as a young teenager, composing his own music was his most important musical expression. Starting with pop songs, with ever increasing instrumental parts, larger symphonic proportions were soon imposed which inevitably lead him towards the great classical composers. Inspired by this newly discovered music De Raaff developed a musical style for symphony orchestra installing the necessity to compose in full score. After enrolling as a composition student at the Sweelinck Conservatory of Amsterdam, playing the bass guitar moved to the background, but his very broad musical interest would greatly influence his view on style in contemporary Classical music.
De Raaff first studied composition with Geert van Keulen and later with Theo Loevendie, with whom he graduated cum laude in 1997. In 1999 De Raaff had the special privilege of being invited to work as George Benjamin’s only composition student at the Royal College of Music in London where he also studied with Julian Anderson.
Since 2001 De Raaff has been a professor of composition and orchestration and an active faculty member at the Composition Department of the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music (Codarts)

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Doelen Ensemble

Het Rotterdam-based DoelenEnsemble performs music from the 20th and 21st centuries since 1990. A wide and surprising repertoire is performed in different arrangements; from chamber music to large-scale works and with regular attention to theatre. The concerts are of the highest international level and challenge the audience with their special choice of repertoire. Young composers are brought together with master pieces from the recent musical literature. It is classical music like it is rarely heard. Composers such as Steve Reich, Tan Dun and Steve Coleman paly along with us and these concerts are a happening!

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Radio Kamer Filharmonie

Orchestre de Picardie

Het Gelders Orkest

Firmly rooted in Gelderland and Dutch society Het Gelders Orkest (HGO) gives a large number of concerts per season on the important stages in the Netherlands. In addition, the orchestra likes to showcase touring and concerts abroad. The Gelders Orkest is one of the most active Dutch orchestras and fulfills an ambassador role at home and abroad. This makes Het Gelders Orkest one of the top orchestras in the Netherlands. Passion is a key concept for Het Gelders Orkest. It invests in the development of creativity and dynamism and knows how to bind young and talented musicians. Conductors who regularly visited HGO from the nineties are, among others, Bernard Klee, Hans Vonk, Jaap van Zweden, Roy Goodman and Reinbert de Leeuw. The Gelders Orkest works frequently with young conductors such as Antonello Manacorda, Sascha Goetzel, Jakub Hrusa and Damian Iorio. Also soloists like Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Zoltán Kocsis, Nikolaj Znaider, Akiko Suwanai, Maxim Vengerov, Natalia Gutman, Quirine Viersen, Christian Lindberg and Radovan Vlatkovic like to perform with Het Gelders Orkest. The symphonic concerts make the versatile classical repertoire accessible, while the intimate chamber concerts bring musicians and audiences closer together. The orchestra also wants to pass on the passion for live classical music to a young audience. That is why it organizes a large number of family concerts, educational concerts and special participation projects for amateurs every season. In addition, it records several (live) CDs annually. The orchestra feels supported in its mission by a loyal audience and an ever-growing group of Friends, Partners and Patrons.

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Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

Antonello Manacorda (conductor)

Antonello Manacorda is currently Artistic Director of Kammerakademie Potsdam, a position he has held since 2010. He has been Principal Conductor of the Het Gelders Orkest in the Netherlands since 2011 – a position he bids farewell to in the 2018-19 season. He was Principal Conductor of I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan from 2006-10. In addition to his two current positions, Manacorda also has guest conducting relationships which include the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. He has also worked with a number of other orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Symphony. In January 2015 Antonello Manacorda made his debut at the Salzburg Mozartwoche with the Mozarteumorchester...

In addition to his two current positions, Manacorda also has guest conducting relationships which include the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the Tapiola Sinfonietta. He has also worked with a number of other orchestras including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Sydney Symphony.

In January 2015 Antonello Manacorda made his debut at the Salzburg Mozartwoche with the Mozarteumorchester in a performance of Schubert’s Alfonso und Estrella followed by an appearance at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a programme of Strauss and Stravinsky. In February 2014 he conducted a Beethoven Cycle over four consecutive days in Potsdam with Kammerakademie Potsdam, while in April he conducted a performance of Mendelssohn’s complete Midsummer Night’s Dream which was broadcast live from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Manacorda is currently engaged in recording a Schubert Symphony cycle for Sony Classical with the Kammerakademie Potsdam. The recordings have been met with high praise, including one being listed in Die Welt’s top ten CDs of 2013. He has also recently recorded a CD of Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Het Gelders Orkest and soprano Lisa Larsson, which was released in November 2014 by Challenge Records.

With a strong experience in opera as well as symphonic repertoire, in December 2014 Manacorda conducted Kammerakademie Potsdam’s Winter Opera production of Mozart’s La Betulia Liberata to great critical acclaim. He also has a long-standing relationship with Teatro La Fenice, and the director Damiano Michieletto, and will be returning to La Fenice in November 2015 to conduct The Magic Flute. Future opera collaborations include La Monnaie, Theater an der Wien, Komische Oper Berlin and Frankfurt Opera.

A founder-member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Antonello Manacorda was its vice-president and concertmaster for eight years. A scholarship from De Sono in his home town of Turin allowed him to pursue his goal of becoming a conductor by enabling him to study with Jorma Panula for two years in Helsinki. From 2003-06 he was Artistic Director for chamber music at the Académie Européenne de Musique du Festival d’Aix en Provence.

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Arie van Beek (conductor)

Arie van Beek studied percussion and worked as a percussionist with the radio orchestras of the NOS. He studied orchestral conducting with EDO DE WAART and DAVID PORCELIJN. From 1994 to 2010 he was chief conductor of the French ORCHESTRE D'AUVERGNE. From 2010 he is chief conductor and artistic director of the ORCHESTRE DE PICARDIE, also in France. In addition, since September 2013, he has the same position at the ORCHESTRE DE CHAMBRE DE GENÈVE. He is the permanent conductor of the DOELENENSEMBLE.

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Emilio Pomàrico (conductor)

Emilio Pomàrico was born in Buenos Aires in 1953 to Italian parents. He began his music studies in Milan, and later was a master student of Franco Ferrara and Sergui Celibidache. Regularly engaged by theaters and Italian concert associations, he quickly became a sought-after conductor for prestigious orchestras and concert halls throughout Europe. Beyond the classical repertoire, from Bach to Webern, Emilio Pomàrico is one of the leading promoters of today’s music. He has conducted contemporary composers such as Xenakis, Carter, Boulez, Nunes, Maderna, Nono, Ligeti, Kurtag, Berio, Donatoni, with the ensemble Moderne (Frankfort), the Ensemble Contrechamps (Geneva), the Nieuw Ensemble (Amsterdam), the Ensemble Recherche (Fribourg), and the Klangforum Wien.
Pomàrico conducted the premieres of Quodlibet (1991), Nihil mutantur omnia interit (1996), Musivus (1998) by Emmanuel Nunes and the entire Carceri d’Invenzione by Brian Ferneyhough (1996). In 1997 Pomàrico conducted Coro by Luciano Berio, conducted in Geneva in the composer’s presence, a highly acclaimed performance.
Despite his heavy schedule as a conductor, Emilio Pomàrico continues to compose and teach orchestral conducting at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan.

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Composer(s)

Robin de Raaff

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Press

The result is ultimately a very personal kind of expressionism that is never less than impressive and sometimes beautiful, sometimes overwhelmingly violent. The enormous orchestra is handled with extreme virtuosity.
Records International, 28-11-2018

Magnificent how De Raaff, in his Second Symphony, lets the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet rise gently from a mist of high violins and harpses. Or how, in his Fourth Symphony, he translates Emily Dickinson's 'How Still the Bells' into weightless tinker textures.
NRC Handelsblad, 12-9-2018

First of all, there is the Cello Concerto in five movements. Cellist Marien van Staalen, who is also playing on this record, describes the work mainly as innovative and challenging. It is technically very challenging for the musician because different keys and dynamics are interwoven and alternated. This also makes it an exciting exercise for the ear of the listener.
CultuurPakt, 30-8-2018

Expert without being explicitly artful and expressive without becoming theatrical.
Opus Klassiek, 20-6-2018

This recording shows that De Raaf composes the best orchestral music you can imagine today. Extremely solid, convincing, imaginative and powerful neo-expressionist. Impressive! Bravo, Robin!
Stretto, 16-5-2018