A Music exchange & Concert project of the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT and the Providence Mandolin Orchestra from the US. Videos of the outcome of this cooperation project include among other compositions this work, the Canzone No. I by the Dutch composer Jurriaan Andriessen in a performance by both the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and Het CONSORT together.
Jurriaan Andriessen was born in Haarlem in 1925 into a family of artists. His grandfather Willem and his father Hendrik both were well known composers while his uncle Mari was a famous Dutch sculptor. His younger brother Louis Andriessen is one of Europe's most eminent and influential composers. Jurriaan Andriessen received his first music lessons from Job Wilderbeek. Later, at the Utrecht Conservatory, he studied composition with his father Hendrik Andriessen and piano with Gerard Hengeveld and André Jurres. He also received lessons in orchestral conducting by the legendary Dutch conductor Willem van Otterloo. To broaden his musical horizon he studied with Olivier Messian in Paris and specialised himself in writing film music. In 1949 he left to study and work in the United States with Aaron Copland and Serge Koussevitsky. Most of the overtures, symphonies, concertos that he composed there, were premiered in the USA and in Europe. When he returned to Europe in 1951, he lived for a period in Italy and Germany, mainly to study music and to compose. Back in the Netherlands in 1953 Andriessen worked as an all round composer writing for almost every music genre and for diverse instrument combinations like for instance harmony orchestra, accordion ensemble and dixieland band. In this period he also composed "Venezia", a one movement work originally intended for mandolin orchestra. Besides his activities as a composer Andriessen revealed himself as conductor of his own compositions and directed ballet and concert performances for TV and Radio broadcastings. An excellent example of Andriessen's interest in combining different Art disciplines is his symphony 'Time Spirit'; a music theatre work for clarinet, orchestra, pop musicians, ballet and slide projection made in 1970 with and based on drawings and lithographs by the Dutch artist M.C. Escher (broadcasted by the NCRV Dutch television). Furthermore Andriessen was especially interested in the integration of the computer in the process of composing and the use of the computer as texts processor, especially for texts in connection with music.
Jurriaan Andriessen was honoured with several awards during his life. Like for instance for his composition 'Het Wonderlijk Uur' (composed for the special occasion of the reign jubilee of Queen Wilhelmina) he received in 1948 the first Johan Wagenaar award. In 1960 he was knighted in the Order of the White Elephant (Thailand). And in 1972 he was, because of his great merits in the field of the theatre music, declared as Knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau. Jurriaan Andriessen died in 1996 in The Hague (Netherlands).
The "Canzone" performed on this video by the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT and the Providence Mandolin Orchestra from the US, was commissioned by the Dutch ´Pijpersgilde´ in 1979. It is one of two compositions with this title that he wrote for bamboo pipe (or recorder) trio and guitar. The arrangement for mandolin orchestra of the first Canzone by Alex Timmerman was made because the music lends itself perfectly to be played by plucked and plectrum played instruments and more so since both Canzones are advertised on the cover of the music that other combinations of instruments also could perform it and that it was suitable for large ensembles. It is, in all its simplicity and straight forwardness, a wonderful piece of music in tremolo style with a nice contrasting middle section.
Along with other compositions by Händel, Bach, Rossini, Sibelius, Calace, Ranieri and Piazzolla, this Canzone by Jurriaan Andriessen is recorded on the 2nd CD 'Omaggio a Luigi Embergher' by the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT. For more information about their CD's, concerts and other activities, please visit their website:
http://www.mandolineorkest.nl/samples/enandriessen.htm
This concert was organized for the Providence Mandolin Orchestra and Het CONSORT as a joint-concert in which both orchestras each performed a program part of their own and a last program part together. It took place in the Zuiderkerk in Zwolle (Netherlands) on evening of the Saturday the 5th of July 2008. It was organized by the Dutch host and collegue Orchestra the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra Het CONSORT. This Music and Concert exchange project was supported by a.o. The Providence Mandolin Orchestra, D'Addario Foundation, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds geeft cultuur een kans, Nederlands Fonds voor Podiumkunsten and The Mandolin Chamber Orchestra HET CONSORT.
Video made by Jan Ulderink - © HET CONSORT, Zwolle, Netherlands, 2008.
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Unknown by Jurriaan Andriessenby johantj887 views
Great orchestral use of the mandolin orchestra and atmospheric dynamics.
embergher 1 year ago
Excellent - I just wish you'd recorded better sound quality
southcoastsounds 3 years ago