Violin Concerto - Hysteresis by Janine Jansen / Kari Kriikku / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Michel van der Aa

Janine Jansen / Kari Kriikku / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Violin Concerto - Hysteresis

Format: CD
Label: Disquiet Media
UPC: 0608917400526
Catnr: DQM 05
Release date: 11 March 2016
Notify when available

1 CD		Notify when available

Label
Disquiet Media

UPC
0608917400526

Catalogue number
DQM 05

Release date
11 March 2016

""fulminant interpretation""

Fono Forum, 01-7-2016

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Two recent pieces of Van der Aa are combined on this album: Violin concerto with RCO and Janine Jansen (recorded live at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in November 2014, duration 26") and Hysteresis for solo clarinet, ensemble and soundtrack, performed by Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Kari Kriikku (recorded in session at Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden in September 2015 - duration 17').

The concerto is composed in the traditional three movements. Van der Aa describes the first as abstract, the second as more direct and melodic, and the third as very fast, performed at breakneck speed and close to the edge of possibility. Like Van der Aa’s other recent pieces – the opera Sunken Garden and the clarinet concerto Hysteresis – it also includes allusions to popular styles; in this case to jazz and bluegrass.

Violin concerto
Van der Aa has described the partnership of Jansen and the RCO as his “dream team”. It combines an orchestra with whom he now has a long-standing and intimate relationship, and a soloist with a magnetic stage presence and a heart-on-sleeve style of playing, ideally suited to Van der Aa’s direct and physically expressive music. As “house composer” for the RCO since 2011, he was able to work unusually closely with the players, checking details throughout the period of composition. He has also been free to write the works he chooses. In this case, it was Jansen’s personality that served as inspiration, and the composer claims that “If Janine had played the flute, I would have written a flute concerto.”
The piece has its roots in the classical concerto, but he couldn’t resist giving it a distinctly theatrical quality. “As an opera director, I love the theatrical possibilities of having someone who is the embodiment of the work.” The theatre begins in Jansen’s presence and personality, but extends across the whole stage. The lead violinist and cellist are drawn in as secondary soloists, and with Jansen often form a trio of their own.

Hysteresis refers to the way in which a system depends both on its current environment, and its past. That is, the idea that non-living things can have a sort of ‘memory’ of previous states, which they carry into their present. It was originally used in material science – to describe, for example, how certain metals become magnetized when brought into contact with a magnetic field, and stay magnetized after that field has been removed. In his clarinet concerto Michel van der Aa extends this idea into more speculative realms: can musical material (note sequences, rhythms, chords) retain some ‘memory’ of itself even after it has been worked with? Is it identifiably the same stuff, does it behave similarly, even when the magnet has been taken away? Of course, questions like these have been an underlying consideration for composers for centuries, but in his clarinet concerto Van der Aa brings them to the fore.

Weltersteinspielung neuer Kompositionen von Michel van der Aa. U.a. sein Violin Konzert, das er für Janine Jansen komponierte und das am 6 November 2014 in Amsterdam mit dem Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra unter Vladimir Jurowski uraufgeführt wurde.

Überrumpelnde Magie
“Es ist die reine Wonne, zu sehen, wie die Holländerin Janine Jansen physisch eintaucht in van der Aas forderndes Werk. Der Komponist kennt keine Parteien: Die Geige ist bei ihm keine Einzelgängerin, sie ist Primus inter pares […]
Der Beat der Moderne hält ebenso Einzug wie das sanft gebrochene Barockzitat. Ob sich die Neuschöpfung im Repertoire hält? Ob sie die überrumpelnde Magie aussendet, wenn keine so hingebungsvolle Interpretin zur Stelle ist? Man soll nicht spekulieren; Essens Philharmonie-Publikum riss es jedenfalls von den Sitzen.”
— Der Westen, 9 November 2014

Exquisite Farbmischungen
“Als gleichermaßen dankbar für die Solistin, das Orchester und das Publikum erwies sich das Violinkonzert von Michel van der Aa. Der energetischen und souveränen Geigerin Janine Jansen auf den Leib geschrieben, vereint es Lyrik, Dramatik und Virtuosität.
Die Solistin führte durchweg, war aber zugleich eingebunden in den Orchesterklang, der sich trotz großer Blechbläserbesetzung und Beteiligung von drei Schlagzeugern meist als durchsichtig erwies und exquisite Farbmischungen aufbot.”
— Ruhr Nachrichten, Klaus Stübler, 9 November 2014

Das rockte mitreißend jugendlich
“Interessant war der Einsatz eines Soundtracks, der – anstatt wie üblich den zeitlichen Ablauf zu regieren – auf das kompetent lebendige Dirigat von Susanna Mälkki reagieren konnte. Der grosse Ambitus der Klarinette faszinierte auch hier den Komponisten, der das kleine Orchester durch elektronische Verstärkung ganz munter zu kraftvollem Sound aufblies. Das rockte mitreißend jugendlich.”
— Olaf Wieden, Kölnische Rundschau, 11 June 2014

Artist(s)

Janine Jansen (violin)

With an enviable international reputation, violinist Janine Jansen works regularly with the world’s most eminent orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and the New York Philharmonic. She was the Featured Artist at the 2014 BBC Proms, culminating in an appearance at the internationally-renowned Last Night of the Proms. Following acclaimed performances in recent years, this season Janine returns to the San Francisco Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas), Orchestre de Paris (Paavo Järvi) and Royal Stockholm (Sakari Oramo) and Rotterdam (Valery Gergiev) Philharmonic orchestras. Appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra include concerts with Andres Orozco-Estrada and the world premiere of Michel van der Aa’s Violin Concerto conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; she also performs the work with Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Janine undertakes a number of European tours this season, including concerts with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. She takes her famous interpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and directs the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in concerts in Germany, France and the Netherlands. A devoted chamber musician, she undertakes two recital tours with pianist Itamar Golan, in the Netherlands and the USA. Janine established and curates the annual International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, which takes place in June each year. Particularly renowned for her success in the digital music charts, Janine records exclusively for Decca Classics. Future releases include Bartók’s Violin Concerto No.1 with the LSO and Brahms’ Violin Concerto with Santa Cecilia, both conducted by Pappano. Past recordings include an album of concertos and sonatas by Bach, Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Jurowski, the Beethoven and Britten Concertos with Paavo Järvi, Mendelssohn and Bruch with Riccardo Chailly, and Tchaikovsky with Daniel Harding. Janine has also released a number of chamber music discs, including Schubert’s String Quintet and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht. Janine Jansen has won numerous prizes, including four Edison Klassiek Awards, three ECHO Klassik awards, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement and, most recently, the Concertgebouw Prize. She has been given the VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijs for individual achievement and the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award for performances in the UK. Janine studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirschhorn and Boris Belkin.
Janine currently plays the very fine 1727 ‘Baron Deurbroucq’ Stradivarius kindly loaned to her through ‘The Beare’s International Violin Society’.

less

Amsterdam Sinfonietta

Amsterdam Sinfonietta has occupied a unique position as the only professional string orchestra in the Netherlands for the past 25 years. Founded in 1988, with Lev Markiz as its first artistic director, the ensemble has performed throughout the world, touring Europe, China, the United States and Australia. It has appeared at major venues sich as the Barbican Hall in London, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the National Centre of Performing Arts in Beijing and the Berlin Konzerthaus.
The ensemble comprises 22 string players who perform under the leadership of its concertmaster and artistic leader Candida Thompson. This approach to music- making without a conductor is what distinguishes the group from ‘regular’ chamber orchestras. It calls for an extremely intense degree of involvement from all the musicians. The repertoire covers a variety of styles, extending from the Baroque repertoire to contemporary works. Alongside performances of mainstream repertoire, the orchestra frequently champions unjustly neglected or new works. Amsterdam Sinfonietta has recently premièred compositions by David Matthews, Michel van der Aa, Kate Moore, Tigran Mansurian and Peteris Vasks. Leading composers such as Thomas Larcher, Rozalie Hirs and Sofia Gubaidulina are currently composing new works commissioned by Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
The ensemble has gained a reputation for creating highly innovative programmes; its trademark versatility recently earned it the prestigious classical music prize De Ovatie [The Ovation] in 2013. It frequently presents original and compelling combinations of works, initiates surprising collaborations and embraces groundbreaking concepts involving video art, dance or theatre. Amsterdam Sinfonietta has worked with a host of internationally renowned musicians, such as Sergei Khachatryan, Barbara Hannigan, Thomas Hampson, David Fray, Janine Jansen, Dejan Lazic, Steven Isselis, Isabelle Faust, Alexander Melnikov, Nino Gvetadze, Christianne Stotijn, Bobby McFerrin and Wende Snijders.
Amsterdam Sinfonietta’s educational KleuterSinfonietta performances are enjoyed by thousands of young children in the Netherlands each year. It also organises the Sinfonietta Strijkersdagen [Sinfonietta String Players Days], giving young musicians the opportunity to participate in workshops and perform in public in specially formed string orchestras.
Within the past decade Amsterdam Sinfonietta has produced an impressive array of CDs under Candida Thompson’s leadership, in collaboration with the high-quality Channel Classics label. These include ‘The Mahler Album’ (2011), ‘Britten’ (2013) and ‘Shostakovich & Weinberg’ (2013). ‘The Argentinian Album’ was released in October 2014. Recently the orchestra has also recorded CDs for labels such as ECM, Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon.
During the last few seasons Amsterdam Sinfonietta has undertaken international tours with Sol Gabetta, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Martin Fröst. In early 2014 it joined forces with the American baritone Thomas Hampson, performing a unique song programme in twelve concert halls across Europe. Upcoming projects include a tour of Japan and concerts in the Benelux, Germany and Austria with the cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.

less

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of the very best orchestras in the world. Time and time again, critics have lauded its unique sound, which clearly stands out among thousands of others. The RCO’s string section has been called ‘velvety’, the sound of the brass ‘golden’, the timbre of the woodwinds ‘distinctly personal’ and the percussion have an international reputation. While the exceptional acoustics of the Concertgebouw, play an important role in this respect, the influence exerted on the orchestra by its chief conductors, of whom there have been only seven since the orchestra was founded in 1888, is also important. As is that of the musicians themselves. RCO Amsterdam is made up of 120 players hailing from over 20 countries. Despite its...

While the exceptional acoustics of the Concertgebouw, play an important role in this respect, the influence exerted on the orchestra by its chief conductors, of whom there have been only seven since the orchestra was founded in 1888, is also important. As is that of the musicians themselves. RCO Amsterdam is made up of 120 players hailing from over 20 countries. Despite its size, the orchestra actually functions more like a chamber orchestra.This requires both a high individual calibre and a great sense of mutual trust and confidence. The atmosphere onstage, the orchestra’s roots in Amsterdam and the organisational structure

all converge to create exactly the right circumstances for exceptional music-making. The musicians are allowed to shine, yet still share responsibility for the collective. They also share the aim of achieving and delivering the highest level of quality at every performance, an ambition that goes far beyond simply playing all the notes perfectly. This is how magic is made and a concert becomes a truly unforgettable experience.

less

Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco. This season (2017) Vladimir Jurowski takes up the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He also celebrates ten...

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow in 1972, and completed the first part of his musical studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1990 he relocated with his family to Germany, continuing his studies at the Musikhochschule of Dresden and Berlin, studying conducting with Rolf Reuter and vocal coaching with Semion Skigin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco.

This season (2017) Vladimir Jurowski takes up the position of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He also celebrates ten years as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic, having been appointed in 2007 following four years as the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor. In addition he holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the George Enescu International Festival, Bucharest. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2000), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000-2003), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005-2009) and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013).

less

Composer(s)

Michel van der Aa

Michel van der Aa (Netherlands, 1970) is one of Europe’s most sought-after composers today.  For Van der Aa, music is more than organized sound or a structuring of notes. His music has expressive power, combining sounds and scenic images in a play of changing perspectives. Van der Aa's recent stage works show a successful involvement as a film and stage director as well as composer. “Van der Aa, stage director and mastermind as well as composer, pushes the boundaries of all of his media. This is the Gesamtkunst of the future.” (Financial Times) Van der Aa's works often include a theatrical element: staging, film and music are seamlessly interwoven. Dramatic personages take on various identities or have an alter ego; musicians...

Michel van der Aa (Netherlands, 1970) is one of Europe’s most sought-after composers today.  For Van der Aa, music is more than organized sound or a structuring of notes. His music has expressive power, combining sounds and scenic images in a play of changing perspectives. Van der Aa's recent stage works show a successful involvement as a film and stage director as well as composer. “Van der Aa, stage director and mastermind as well as composer, pushes the boundaries of all of his media. This is the Gesamtkunst of the future.” (Financial Times) Van der Aa's works often include a theatrical element: staging, film and music are seamlessly interwoven. Dramatic personages take on various identities or have an alter ego; musicians on the stage interact with their electronic counterparts on soundtrack or film. The virtual space that emerges works its way into the mind of the audience. Sound, in Van der Aa’s book, is malleable: it can constantly assume other forms, sometimes recognizable, sometimes not. Van der Aa is in fact a playwright in music. His sounds – like real people – can be flexible or stubborn; they either take control or get the short end of the stick; they reinforce or counteract each other, affecting audiences with their expressive power.
Having completed his training as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Michel van der Aa studied composition with Diderik Wagenaar, Gilius van Bergeijk and Louis Andriessen. His style, independent in spirit, is characterized by a constructivist approach and the use of rhythm and chords as structural elements. It is strikingly subtle, playful, poetic and transparent but not, however, expressive or melodious in the traditional sense.
In 2002 Van der Aa completed a program in film directing at the New York Film Academy. In 2007 he participated in the Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab, an intensive course in stage direction. He was responsible for the stage direction as well as the conception and creation of the film segments in the operas One and After Life and the music theatre piece The Book of Disquiet. His film directing credits include the short film Passage as well as the television production of One for the Dutch national broadcasting company NPS. Passage has been shown at numerous international festivals and has been aired on Dutch national television.  In applying staging, film images and soundtracks as additional instruments, he effectively extends the vocabulary of his music.
Van der Aa’s music has been performed by ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including the ASKO|Schoenberg, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, De Nederlandse Opera, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Chamber Players, New National Theatre Tokyo, musikFabrik, Continuum Ensemble Toronto, SWR orchestra Baden-Baden & Freiburg, Netherlands Radio Orchestras, Tokyo Sinfonietta, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra Sweden, Phiharmonia Orchestra London, and the Helsinki Avanti Ensemble.
Van der Aa has been a featured artist at the Perth Tura New Music Festival and Holland Festival. He is a regular guest of the Berliner Festspiele, Venice Biennale, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Gaudeamus Music Week, Huddersfield Festival, Schleswig-Holstein festival, Concertgebouw Saturday Matinee and Autumn in Warsaw. Additionally his compositions have been performed at the Festival d’Automne á Paris, LA Philharmonic New Music Series, Lucerne Festival, Tokyo Suntory Summer Music Festival, Music Biennale Zagreb, Moscow Music Week, Oslo Ultima Festival, and Budapest Autumn Festival.
Michel van der Aa's imaginative music theatre works, including One (2002), After Life (2005/06) and The Book of Disquiet (2008), have received international critical and public acclaim. The innovative aspect of these operas is their use of film images and sampled soundtracks as an essential element of the score. Staging, film and music are seamlessly interwoven into a collage of transparent layers, resulting in a work that is part documentary film, part philosophy.
In 1999 Michel Van der Aa was the first Dutch composer to win the prestigious International Gaudeamus Prize. Subsequent awards include the Matthijs Vermeulen prize (2004), a Siemens Composers Grant (2005), the Charlotte Köhler Prize for his directing work and the interdisciplinary character of his oeuvre (2005) and the Paul Hindemith Prize (2006).
Van der Aa is currently working on a revised version of his successful 2006 opera After Life in preparation for the upcoming revival by De Nederlandse Opera in September 2009 and by Opera de Lyon in March 2010. In May 2010 it will be presented semi-staged at the Barbican Centre in London.
Van der Aa’s music is recorded on the Harmonia Mundi, Col Legno, Composers’ Voice, BVHaast, and VPRO Eigenwijs labels.

less

Press

"fulminant interpretation"
Fono Forum, 01-7-2016

"fascinating breathlessness"
klassik.com, 02-6-2016

Luister, Mei 2016
Luister, 06-5-2016

"The Violin Concerto, played by Janine Jansen, is a work that stirs up a lot and exceeds many border lines, but still totally in the tradition of the classic Violin Concerto. The balance between the soloist and the Orchestra is perfect, hollow virtuosity is completely absent and the orchestration is full but transparent "-***** Volkskrant, 14th april 2016
De Volkskrant, 13-4-2016

De Volkskrant, 13 April 2016
De Volkskrant, 13-4-2016

"Stunning urgency."
Klassieke Zaken, 01-4-2016

"Van der AA's Violin Concerto is sharp, virtuoso, and bright. With a generous relief in the third part."
VPRO Vrije Geluiden, 17-2-2016

"Van der Aa was a very attentive host. He filled the score with material that still gave room for the soloist. The strings and horns shadow her. Percussionists gave some buzz, with a dry tap to pounding on a swing."
De Volkskrant, 08-11-2014