Anyone wishing to understand why Dutch music developed such a strikingly distinctive character after 1970 cannot overlook The Hague. Around the Royal Conservatoire, the Hague School emerged: a group of composers who positioned themselves against the established musical world with its red‑velvet seats and complacent orchestras. They wrote defiant music with a strong rhythmic drive, inspired by Stravinsky and American minimalism.
The Hague School drew international attention. Young composers from all over the world travelled to The Hague to study at the conservatoire, among them Calliope Tsoupaki from Greece. She is now one of the most prominent composers in the Netherlands. For this concert, as guest curator, she selected three favourite works by composers who inspired her during her time in The Hague. The New European Ensemble performs with twelve string players and a pianist in the Paleiskerk.
Louis Andriessen based his Symphony for Open Strings (1978) on a brilliantly simple premise: twelve string players perform exclusively on open strings. Normally, string players determine pitch by placing their fingers on the strings; in this piece they play only with the bow, and each string sounds exactly as it is tuned. Every instrument has four strings, and therefore only four pitches. The result is an open, resonant sound that is rarely heard. Because Andriessen had all instruments tuned differently and no single player can produce a melody alone, the music constantly travels through the ensemble: four successive notes require four musicians. You see and hear the melody leap from stand to stand. This relay technique is called hoketus, which flourished in the fourteenth century, the era of the medieval Ars Nova — the festival’s theme.
Diderik Wagenaar was inspired by Stravinsky, but also by his jazz heroes Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. In Cat Music (1994) he portrays two cats in three pieces for two violins. In Playing, a playful melody continually shifts colour because the violinists barely touch the strings. You hear harmonics: glassy, flute‑like tones. In Hunting, the violins chase each other in a stream of notes that never comes to rest. And in Purring, the two voices merge into one contentedly humming melody.
Gilius van Bergeijk is the pioneer of Dutch electronic music. With The Elements for piano and electronics he composed a compelling listening journey: in a lucid piece he evokes earth, water, fire and air using piano and sounds recorded outdoors. He lets the wind rustle and the water flow, yet his stylised nature is never untouched or literal.
