NEW! NEW! NEW! RELEASE JUNE 2005: A PASSAGE TO RUSSIA NEW! NEW!
NEW! NEW! NEW! RELEASE JUNE 2005: A PASSAGE TO RUSSIA NEW! NEW!
Contemporary
and traditional music for clarinet and accordion by
Michel
Marang (clarinets) and Peter van Os (accordion).
E15,- only!
Order by sending your data to info@michelmarang.nl
On
this CD you’ll find music for clarinet and accordion from seemingly incompatible
musical genres. If an excuse for it is needed, we found it in the desire to
show the wide range of possibilities of this instrumental combination. At the
same time we didn’t want to restrict ourselves to just traditional music or
to academic contemporaries. As we were aiming at an accessible recording, we
have tried to find music by composers that in one way or another could be related
to folk music or to developments from it.
Unfortunately
we were, for legal reasons, not able to include music by some composers (Bartok,
Stravinsky) who were essential to the appreciation of folk music in academic
music, so you may find the actual bridge between them missing.
Nevertheless, in Manneke’s piece, rhythms can be traced from the Gankino
hora - as well as lines to Strawinsky and Messiaen. Ter Veldhuis demonstrates
his interests in jazz and Indian ragas -Messiaen also uses Hindu rhythmical
patterns, and obviously Jense and Bartow are directly referring to – or rather
playing with - clichés from different folk genres.
The first four blocks of klezmer (instrumental
music of middle- European Jews) we played more or less straightforwardly. However,
the musical charm of klezmer, in our opinion, is almost entirely based on its
melodic richness, which adventurous musicians might see as a restriction. For
that reason we couldn’t stop ourselves from providing a few tracks with a contemporary
facade, giving them a drastically different perspective. (MM)
Julia Bronkhorst, soprano
2.
Traditional:
Vie tvey iz Naftule der dritte - Gasn nigun - Gankino horo 4’37
Most klezmer melodies date from around 1900 or much earlier. Composers are usually
unknown, and titles were given only in the twentieth century. The most direct
sources in our time are recordings from the 1920s by orchestras such as Dave
Tarras’and Naftule Brandwein’s.
3.
Traditional/Marang:
Basetzen di kale - Oy tate 3’12
4. Traditional:
Moide ani - Glazele Vayn 4’46
5. Traditional:
Mayn tayere Odessa - Amerikanisher Bulgar 4‘34
6.
Marang/ Mickey Katz (1909-1985):
Intro - Liri
(2004/1950) 4’00
7.
Traditional/Marang/traditional/van
Os:
Almond fantasies
(2004) 7’35
8.
Daan Manneke (1939):
Gestures (1981) 10’07
Manneke, once a student of Messiaen, is now an established composer with a huge
list of works to his credit, and special interest
in non-western music and improvisation. This piece takes several different musical
positions, co-existing alongside each other. Originally a marimba piece, Manneke
rearranged it for ‘a low range instrument and a keyboard instrument’.
9. Marang/Melekh Ravitch (1893-1976):
Du un Ikh (2003) 2’38
A Yiddish poem from 1948. The
famous Polish poet, otherwise known for his strong
opposition against realism in
literature, wrote it after a seven year stay in Australia.
If I could be two,
two times I -
my second I would be you.
If two could be one
it would be us -
you and me,
you-me.
If one, who is two,
could be not just God but man
-
it would be us.
If nostalgia,
eternally longing for elsewhere,
could live somewhere here,
then you are my last,
my sacred home.
10
Matyas Seiber (1905-1960)/Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914):
Das Knie (1927) 1’29
One of three songs by the undervalued Hungarian composer Matyas Seiber, setting
absurdist texts by Christian Morgenstern.
A knee goes lonely through the world.
It is a knee, nothing else!
It is not a tree! It is not a tent!
It is a knee, nothing else!
In a war, once a man was shot down,
Only the knee was unhurt, as it was a relic.
Ever since it goes lonely through the world…
11.
Marang/traditional:
Der Opsjit (1993) 3’27
An old Yiddish text in a new setting.
Keep well, my dear parents
I’m going away from you
To far off regions
Where the wind doesn’t blow
And where no rooster crows.
Keep well, my dear parents
I’m going away from you
To far-off regions
God will grant you a healthy life
And me a lucky road.
12.
Nevett Bartow(1934-1973):
Three characteristic dances (1965) 4’38
Polka
Barn dance
Balkan dance
An American born composer, who, after studies in Vienna, tried to stay away
from both neo-romanticism and serialism, ending up writing music in a non-pretentious
style - such as these ironic short pieces, dedicated to the famous accordionist
Mogens Ellegaard
13.
Maarten Jense (1959):
Tango(1991) 4’53
This early work by composer/clarinetist Jense
is a roguish take on traditional tango. The original piano section has
been arranged for accordion by Peter van Os. .
14. Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992):
Abyss of the Birds from Quartet for
the End of Time (1941) 8’24
An apocalyptic solo piece for clarinet, the third part of a quartet for
violin, cello, clarinet and piano. It was written and premiered during World
War II in a German prisoner of war camp, under extremely harsh conditions. The
slower sections represent time, as the fast refer to birds. They are seperated by three
large birdcries, symbolizing death.
Recorded June 2004 at Gymnasium Bernrode,
Heeswijk, The Netherlands
Recording
engineer: Jan Maarten van den Boom, Next Level Audio Recordings, The Hague
Editing & mastering: Jan Maarten van den Boom, Next Level Audio Recordings,
The Hague
Design:
Walter Linsewski
Print & press: Tapes Nederland