UP-CLOSE

Musica Electronica
National Forum Of Music ul. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego 19, 50-044 Wrocław
Poland
+ 48 71/ 342 24 59
http://en.musicaelectronicanova.pl

Kaori Yamagami – cello
Jadwiga Kotnowska – flute
Krzysztof Knittel – electronics
Sławomir Kupczak – electronics
AUKSO Chamber Orchestra of Tychy
Marek Moś – conductor

One cannot speak about the newest Dutch music without mentioning the work of Michel van der Aa.

Forty-three years old, van der Aa is one of the most prominent composers in his country, yet should not be seen as a model example of a contemporary musician from the Netherlands. This is mainly due to his rather weak links with the so-called “Hague school”, whose style in the present Netherlands plays almost a national role. Music of this school, centered around the figure of Louis Andriessen, exposes diatonic harmonies, a motoric, irregular rhythm, harsh articulation, brass instruments, keyboards and drums – and sounds that are dry and caustic, like contemporary Stravinsky. As almost every convention does, to begin with Neoclassicism, "the Hague Convention" resulted in the creation of works of great stature and a long series of epigonic imitations; it also secured the Netherlands in a strong position in the musical world, yet at the same time plunging the country into a certain composing depression.

None of the features of the Hague style dominates the music of Michel van der Aa, which is neither diatonic, motoric, caustic or dry – everything but Andriessenesque. For lack of a better term and for the sake of brevity, it may be best to describe his peculiar sound as a "dissonant euphony." Just as original seem to be the composer's experiments, in which he combines music with the visual layer. None of the two spheres is self-sufficient, and their close relationship comes together in an unknown form of Gesamtkunstwerk, or how one might be tempted to say, a "strict counterpoint" between the image and sound. An example of such a relationship (and of the said " dissonant euphony") is Up-close for soloist cello, string orchestra and film.

Krzysztof Knittel : Partita II (Inuit) for flute, string orchestra and electronic media (2013)
Sławomir Kupczak : Krawędzie for string orchestra, percussion and electronics (2013)
Michael van der Aa : Up-close for cello, string orchestra and film (2010)