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Music with Changing Parts After Glass on the Roof, the programme from 2017 which successfully toured the Dutch concert halls on the occasion of Philip Glass’s 80th birthday, Amstel Quartet has invited...

Music with Changing Parts After Glass on the Roof, the programme from 2017 which successfully toured the Dutch concert halls on the occasion of Philip Glass’s 80th birthday, Amstel Quartet has invited the same guest musicians, this time to perform Music with Changing Parts.Music by Philip GlassAmstel Quartet electronic wind instrumentsLaura Sandee & Pascal Meyer keyboardsWith Music with Changing Parts (1970), a monumental work from Philip Glass’s early period, Amstel Quartet returns to the meditative and grooving world of hard-core minimalism. This work, consisting of repeated melodic figures which gradually expand and contract, shares some of the rhythmic, trance-inducing aspects of the earlier Music in Similar Motion. However, through the addition of subtle vocal parts and long tones improvised at different moments in the piece by the musicians, the music acquires a different dimension and anticipates Glass's opera work of the later 1970s, such as Einstein on the Beach. Glass on the Roof, the 2017 programme which successfully toured the Dutch concert halls on the occasion of Philip Glass’s 80th birthday, was lavishly praised by both the press and the composer himself.With saxophones, electronic wind instruments and keyboards, the performance interweaves acoustic and electronic sounds, creating a rich and ever-changing musical texture.“Clouds of notes, as if surfing through the ongoing ocean of rhythm” – Philip Glass on Music with Changing Parts 

Sax avec Elan! Philippe Elan and the Amstel QuartetMusic by Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf and othersDrift away with moving French chansons and compelling stories, in the unique combination...

Sax avec Elan! Philippe Elan and the Amstel QuartetMusic by Jacques Brel, Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf and othersDrift away with moving French chansons and compelling stories, in the unique combination of chansonnier Philippe Elan and the Amstel Quartet. Elan is a household name to anyone with a passion for the French chanson. He once began his musical career playing the saxophone in the local brass band, but it soon became apparent that his true passion was to sing. The saxophone continued to play a part in his life though and so it was no coincidence that he said yes to a collaboration with the Amstel Quartet: they understand like no other what singing is. And the chansons by Brel, Aznavour and Piaf are perfectly suited to him. The press quite rightly wrote: “Philippe Elan sings these songs with such charm and passion that he effortlessly illustrates why these chansons have become classics.”

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Ode aan Orpheus 400 jaar Sweelinck Muziek van Sweelinck, Franssens, Vrolijk, FranssensAmstel Quartet, saxofoonsOp 16 oktober 1621 overleed ‘de Amsterdamse Orpheus’, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,...

Ode aan Orpheus 400 jaar Sweelinck Muziek van Sweelinck, Franssens, Vrolijk, FranssensAmstel Quartet, saxofoonsOp 16 oktober 1621 overleed ‘de Amsterdamse Orpheus’, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, na een kort ziekbed. Misschien wel de grootste componist die Nederland ooit heeft gehad werd begraven in de Oude Kerk te Amsterdam, terwijl zijn geliefde orgel op de achtergrond klonk. In de vergetelheid zou hij echter nooit raken. Of, zoals zijn vriend Joost van den Vondel het met poëtische woorden op Sweelincks graf beschreef: Dits Sweelinck’s sterfelyk deel, ten troost ons nagebleven / ’t Onsterfelyk hout de maet by Godt in ’t eeuwig leven. Inderdaad, exact vierhonderd jaar na Sweelincks overlijden waart de geest van de grootmeester nog altijd rond. Hij was niet alleen een imponerende inspiratiebron voor de barok grootheden, zoals Johann Sebastian Bach en Dieterich Buxtehude, die na hem tot wasdom kwamen, ook onder hedendaagse componisten heeft Sweelinck met zijn vernuftige werk nog altijd een status van formaat. Amstel Quartet brengt in dit jaar, ter nagedachtenis, een ode aan Sweelinck. Het speelt zijn beroemde (chromatische) fantasia’s, die met hun geheel eigen vorm van expressie al vele eeuwen bewondering opwekken onder zowel vakmensen als liefhebbers. Hieraan toegevoegd is het van origine vocale werk Voicy de Gay Printemps, ontsproten uit Sweelincks interesse in wereldlijke liederen en teksten uit Frankrijk en Italië. Ten slotte komen ook werken van Joep Franssens en Renske Vrolijk aan bod. Twee hedendaagse vaandeldragers uit het Nederlands componistengilde; een gilde waarvan de eerste echte fundamenten wellicht pas werden uitgetekend toen de ‘Prince der Musijcken’ zijn eerste noten op papier zette.   Ode to Orpheus: 400 Years Sweelinck Music by Sweelinck, Franssens, Vrolijk, Fiumara   Exactly four hundred years after his death, the spirit of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck is still very much alive in the Netherlands. In this memorable year, Amstel Quartet brings an ode to the ‘Prince of Musicke’. They play his famous fantasias and vocal compositions, complemented with work by present-day Dutch composers such as Anthony Fiumara and Renske Vrolijk.  

Georgs Pelēcis CD presentation  featuring Una Cintina - organ    

Georgs Pelēcis CD presentation  featuring Una Cintina - organ    

worldp remiere of Song with No End by Maxim Shalygin for organ and saxophone quartet   featuring Una Cintina - organ

worldp remiere of Song with No End by Maxim Shalygin for organ and saxophone quartet   featuring Una Cintina - organ