Stravinsky and Varèse: Percussion at the Muziekgebouw

By Renée Reitsma, 04 September 2012

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Reviewed at Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 1 September 2012

Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier's Tale): Suite

Varèse, Hyperprism, for wind and percussion

Varèse, Ionisation, for percussion

Het Muziek (formerly Asko|Schönberg)

Slagwerk Den Haag

Etienne Siebens, Conductor

Immersive cinematic experience: Reich/Richter in Amsterdam

Clare Varney, 3rd April

British percussionist Colin Currie joins Asko|Schönberg at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ for performances of Reich/Richter, a visual and musical feast.

****1

Blinding ice: Finsterer's frozen Antarctica at the Sydney Festival

Jeremy Eccles, 5th January

Gorgeous music by Mary Finsterer and an evocative setting by Elizabeth Gadsby transport you to the ends of the earth.

****1

A portrait of Hans Abrahamsen at the Concertgebouw

Rose Dodd, 14th May

For a programme given by Asko|Schönberg at the Concertgebouw, Hans Abrahamsen’s choice of his own works spans an important and transitory period of creative stillness.

****1

Pulsating new Andriessen at Holland Festival

Jenny Camilleri, 11th June

Louis Andriessen’s new opera is a masterly expedition into the grand and grotesque mind of Athanasius Kircher, polymath and fantastist, but it is hampered by a clumsy libretto.

***11

Noordegraaf musical theatre captivates

David Pinedo, 12th June

Arnoud Noordegraaf’s As Big as the Sky received more than the usual attention at the Holland Festival due to his collaboration with Ai Weiwei.

****1

Asko|Schönberg premières Rzewski

Thea Derks, 5th March

A Dog's Life – Frederic Rzewski's 2nd Piano Concerto – is full of playful detail, but a little too long.

***11

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Renée Reitsma

Renée lives in Essex and is a PhD student in Philosophy. She loves all sorts of classical and non-classical music, but has a particular love for Dmitri Shostakovich. She is in charge of the Heavy Symphonic playlist at Dutch classical music site 24classics and blogs here.