It was busy in Amsterdam this weekend. Yes, that may be called a tautology,but this weekend it was very busy in Amsterdam. People, laughing, merry, camefrom all over the world, colored lamps, searchlights and dozens of flagsdecorated the capital. An important event had begun: the Cello Biennale. (Andcoincidentally also the Amsterdam Dance Event)
The Cello Biennale is one of the largest events in honor of the cello in theworld. A cheerful affair, for which the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ is covered withrice paper cello lanterns and where you have to be careful not to get knockedover by another person with a cello case on his back who recognizes an oldfriend behind him. For young and old cello talent, the Biennale is a biennialmeeting place, reunion, market, fair, learning school, showcase and stage inone.
Maya Fridman during the night concert Time Behold Now. Photo Foppe Schut
Many world premieres
The first stroke of 2022 was for Wojciech Fudala of the Polish Cello Quartet,who opened the well-attended opening concert. A little later that concertsounded like a treat, the first of a wide range of (postponed) world premieresthis edition: Calliope Tsoupaki’s Behind the Moon. Larissa Groeneveldsounded wonderfully with big fast jumps, long building tones and finallywobbly descending glissandos, again and again a thin hope that burst intodoubt, like a kind of soundtrack to the Sisyphus myth.
The new works of Willem Jeths (Second cello concerto: Nell ‘Oltretomba) andMartijn Padding (Second cello concerto: Swift, Gray and Spacious ) were lessimpressive. On Friday, Jeths had bad luck with the substitute cellist LeonardElschenbroich (for a sick Johannes Moser). Elschenbroich must have had toolittle time to put his theatrical mimicry into his playing. As cool as theoften-recurring raw string pluck followed by a finger sweeping down the string(so you hear a pjieeuwww up) is, Nell ‘Oltretomba suffered from stress ofdirection choice and was breaking new ground for too long. Shostakovich wasmore memorable that evening’ First cello concerto by Victor Julien-Laferrière and the super playing Dutch Chamber Orchestra.
On Saturday Padding’s new work sounded. With many hasty motifs and percussiontrumps, it was interesting to create the illusion of a direction, whilemusically little actually happened. The spectacle here was the coffee cup thatMatt Haimovitz suddenly stuffed under his strings with a nails-over-the-blackboard sound, after which his cello chafed and crunched like a maximallydistorted electric guitar, resulting in a rather comical dichotomy in theResidentie Orkest: from a concertmaster who could hardly contain his laughterto an orchestra member who frowned so deeply that her eyes became slits.
Artist in residence Jean Guihen Queyras plays with the Residentie Orkestconducted by Otto Tausk. Photo Melle Meivogel
Cellos in all types and timbres
You can still hear dozens of cellos this week – in classical, jazz, worldmusic and all kinds of playful crossovers. The best thing about it as aspectator is that you can get to work as a wine taster. No two cellos are thesame and no two are played in the same way. One may be grand and bulky, thecello after that thinner, or more brilliant, or more lived-in, or moreplaintive. And if several sound at the same time, you hear an animatedconversation or a discussion between peers – like people on a circle birthday.
This was clearly heard in the concert by Maya Fridman and the Cello OctetAmsterdam, which took place in the night from Friday to Saturday in front of aroom with cozy cushions on the floor instead of the usual seats. That nightthe Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ was the windless eye of the ADE hurricane, with agreat first quarter of an hour: the cello octet, seated around the audience,played a phrase one by one, long or short, high or low, of a dreamy melody.One came from afar to the right, the other from somewhere in the front left,and yet another piece by the cellist who sat so close that you could hearevery sound of the instrument, every sigh and creak.
The 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker during the performance ofBrett Deans Twelve Angry Men. Photo Simon van Boxtel
Not music, but sound theater
Composer Brett Dean captured this characteristic of the circle birthday 25years ago in a piece for the 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Hebased his Twelve Angry Men on Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film about twelve men whomust agree on the guilt or innocence of a teenager suspected of murder. Deanput every voice into a cello part. The piece has been on the program of the 12cellists for 25 years and that’s a good thing because Twelve Angry Me npulled you to the edge of your seat on Sunday. You could hear the boy’s pleas,the thoughtful or haughty silence of the gentlemen, the murmurs and murmurs bysome, the occasional exclamation, doubt, the flaring up discussion and frankquarrel. You heard exactly which cellists agree and which don’t. This was nolonger music, but sound theatre. A highlight of the weekend.