On Sunday 6 December we will broadcast part 21 of An Ox on the Roof in times of coronavirus. In this episode, programme maker Thea Derks will pay attention to North American composers. The famous Amstel Quartet has recently released the CD American Dream, with the music of five American composers. On this CD we can hear the cycle (in eight parts) Tapas, of Marc Mellitis, widely divergent ‘bits of music’, from driving minimalism to graceful lyricism, and muffled lamentation.
New as well, is the portrait CD All English Music is Greensleeves, with five pieces of the Flemish Maya Verlaak who was educated at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague and the University of Birmingham. The title All English Music is Greensleeves was derived from the remark of a teacher, who joked that English composers always produce new versions of Greensleeves.
Bass clarinettist Fie Schouten continues to work hard making music. At the beginning of November, she presented her CD Nature, containing six pieces around the nature theme. In An Ox, you can hear Oi Kuu for bass clarinet and cello of composer Kaija Saariaho, of whom we heard violin concerto Graal Théâtre in the last episode.
Quintet for A-Clarinet and String Quartet of the American composer Margaret Brouwer is not new, but still worth listening to. She was born in Ann Harbor, Michigan, in 1940.
