Now what?

I have watched all of Netflix. Well, at least all the shows that interested me. But with ups and downs I have been wanting to find some substance in my life. Netflix doesn't give that. 

Some days ago I discovered this musician, Omer Avital. I have been fascinated by his albums these past days. After months of watching Netflix, my unconscious quest for substance finally found some ground again.

http://omeravital.com/

My relationship to (saxophone) music is somewhat deformed. I studied classical music on saxophone. Once every so many years I wondered why I did not study jazz. Erik-Jan, my colleague and friend, told me if he studied jazz he couldn't have done what he did so far. It's the same with me. I have a set of skills that one hardly finds in jazz music. Although I love jazz, it's what listen to a lot.

I am glad I did what I did in the end. I love what I got to do, I met great musicians and people, and made great friends. And it's not about boxes, about categorizing.

When I started chemo I didn't want to play. I decided to do what I did in 2008 and only start playing when and if the sax would call me again. But my fysiotherapist told me to play to train and maintain my muscles. So I had to play. I did technique only for about six weeks. Like a sort of meditation. Then I started studying Ibert Concertino again. To play some actual music and find some substance in playing. But after some weeks this wasn't enough. Than came jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs who asked me to play transcribed jazz solos with him. He wanted to explore jazz music as classical music. Now we have a program ready and some halls interested. And why did I go along with this? There are so many examples of classical saxophonists playing jazz and failing miserably. I need inspiration and energy, and doing this gave me a lot. Maybe the experiment will fail, and that's ok as well.

And of course I have some projects to look out for that give me more stability. The Denisow concerto with Arjen Tien and a project with the USCantorij, a chorus, with works by Kagel, Manneke and van Merwijk. These will be my pillars while coming back. Great notes that are on paper and that I can study in a way that I am used to. Discovering all the colours that these pieces have to offer.

But to what am I coming back the coming months? I don't know. This makes me anxious sometimes. Especially now, rounding off a period of physical and mental breakdown. One of my best friends Niels Bijl told me that this cancer is a part of my life now. I cannot escape it. I will not go back to 'normal', whatever that may be. I have to reinvent my life. Will I have the same focus and determination? I found out that I love being at home with the kids. I love to have free time and free-styling. But as I write this it makes me anxious. As a true Calvinist I do not want waste time. I want to have purpose. And then I realize that although I always had purpose I wasted a lot of time already, procrastinating, doubting myself, ....

One of the worst things, mentally, about chemo therapy is the fact that my life emptied itself. All of a sudden it was only me and my body. Not being able to concentrate, run, tie my shoelaces without losing my breath. My life is an almost empty bottle at this moment. I can fill it with whatever I want, or with whatever crosses my path. In the end my life might be more or less the same, or not....

I have some months to go before I recover to my potential 100%. These are some of the things I am struggling with at this moment. My advice to you: f you recognize some of these things, do not wait until you get sick to deal with them.

Masterclass Lutz Koppetsch Fontys Conservatorium, Tilburg

Op maandag 15 en dinsdag 16 februari 2016 zal de Duitse saxofonist Lutz Koppetsch een masterclass geven aan het Fontys Conservatorium in Tilburg. Mocht je aanwezig willen zijn dan kan dit. Neem dan contact op met Nicole Groenendijk https://www.facebook.com/GCNicole?fref=ts

Lutz Koppetsch:

https://www.facebook.com/Lutz-Koppetsch-306865665991713/

en

http://www.lutzkoppetsch.de/en/biography

Masterclasses bij Ernst, Delangle en Bornkamp

Lutz Koppetsch uit Krefeld (D) speelt sinds zijn negende saxofoon. Tijdens zijn laatste schooljaren begint Lutz Koppetsch zich ook los van zijn ensemblespel voor muziek te engageren: hij woont masterclasses bij bekende saxofoondocenten zoals Johannes Ernst, Claude Delangle en Arno Bornkamp bij. Onder leiding van deze laatste vat hij weldra zijn studie aan het Conservatorium van Amsterdam aan.

Docent met 26 jaar

Na verdere wedstrijdsuccessen, o.m. bij de Deutscher Musikwettbewerb te Berlijn en de internationale muziekwedstrijd van de ARD te München, en zijn studie aan de conservatoria te Parijs en Versailles wordt Lutz Koppetsch in 2001 als amper 26-jarige benoemd tot docent aan het Conservatorium Würzburg. Sinds 2008 is hij er erehoogleraar voor klassieke saxofoon, terwijl hij in Keulen woont.

Echo Klassik 2005

Daar was hij tot in 2009 lid van het Alliage Quintett. Bejubelde concertavonden in heel Duitsland leverden uiteindelijk de ECHO Klassik 2005 voor de CD “Una voce poco fa” en een onvergetelijk optreden tijdens de ZDF Echo Klassik Gala 2006 op. In 2006 en 2008 werden, samen met Lutz, bijkomende CDs voor MDG en SONY Classical opgenomen.

Docent in Würzburg

Naast zijn activiteit als docent treedt Lutz Koppetsch vaak als gastmuzikant met o.m. het Ensemble Modern, het WDR Sinfonieorchester, de Essener Philharmoniker, maar ook als kamermusicus met bv. de pianist Markus Bellheim of Alexander Schimpf, het Signum strijkkwartet en het blaaskwintet Ensemble DIX op.

Far Away – Lutz Koppetsch & La piccola banda

Met zijn ensemble La piccola banda bewandelt Lutz Koppetsch een eerder exotisch pad. De op het eerste zicht vreemde bezetting van viool, altviool, cello, contrabas, harp en accordeon is echter perfect voor de raffinesse van de kamermuziek op het volume van een orkest waarmee hij zijn prachtige saxofoontoon met zijn gevarieerde klankkleuren en karakters kan botvieren.

Lutz Koppetsch & La piccola banda gaan steevast in de richting van de oorspronkelijk bedoelde symfonische toepassingsmogelijkheden van het in 1840 door Adolphe Sax uitgevonden instrument, maar bewandelen tegelijk nieuwe, nagenoeg onbekende paden met betrekking tot de combinatie van saxofoon met kamermuziek.

De instrumentisten van La piccola banda spelen stuk voor stuk in Duitse symfonieorkesten en/of kamermuziekensembles en zijn actief als docenten.

Nothing

When I started my blog I had a vision about what to share with you. I didn't want to share the technical details of the cancer and chemo, and I didn't want to make you dwell on my feelings and emotions. I wanted to offer you something that you could use, I wanted to extract something from this period that is universal.

I haven't written a blog like that in some weeks now. The chemo is getting heavier and heavier. The cancer is probably gone, but the medicines do their thing and my body doesn't like it. It's all I have at the moment. I get up and I wonder how I am going to spend the day. There are less and less specs of light in the day. Sounds dramatic, doesn't it? I know I am most likely getting better, and still I am complaining. I have reached the threshold. It's enough. I can take a step back and look at myself and see that in February I will a little bit better and most likely I will feel (almost) fully operational this summer. But again, my body is not liking these times. It's hard to get around this.

I wanted to make things, and I did, but less than I wanted to. I wanted to compose, and I did. A lot of sketches, but not a real piece. It's ok. The most important thing is getting better. It's small things, like this blog in which I express my creativity, no matter how small. Yesterday I had a great morning with my friend Rembrandt Frerichs, discussing and making a program about jazz music and Coltrane solos I will  play. Small things. I have to just let things come.

I am unsure about my future. But it's influenced by the state of my body and my brains. I cannot rely on them. I am preparing to start thinking about things. That's all I can do, but I cannot take actual decisions right now.

De vertrekkend Buma directeur veroorzaakte nogal wat opschudding in muziekland

Christiaan Kuyvenhoven heeft een oplossing

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=4dhrIYGLq3E

Deze moslim werden de ogen geopend nadat hij zijn artsen over hemhoorde praten

Hij had de ziekte van Hodgkin. Net als ik.

Hij hield er iets aan over, iets moois. 

http://www.volkskrant.nl/opinie/dankzij-die-artsen-ben-ik-geen-extremist-meer~a4189736/

The urge to create

If I want to get anything from this period, besides my health, it is to be able, to not be embarrassed about and to take the time to create. To make something out of nothing. 

When we go to school the system takes away developing creativity and further in kids. It is all, putting it very black and white, about analysis, about using existing systems to come to certain and especially planned result. 

I remember my first poetry class when I was 12. The teacher asked what we thought a certain poem was about. I was fascinated by the text and gave an answer. I can't remember what I said or which poem it was, but I did remember the answer: 'No, that is not correct'. Someone else gave the 'correct' answer. 

The rest of my high school followed this path more or less. And even after 10th grade my Greek teacher tried to stimulate me to spend less time on my horn and music and more time on school. How wrong could he have been!

It would all have been bearable if our creativity was stimulated somehow. I can remember one project which we were all very excited about. A physics project that we had to come up with ourselves and work our on our own. 

But that was it. 

Also on the conservatory I missed basis classes to create something. And I always defended this: classical music is creative. We have to think of programmes, phrase, come up with a tempo, etcetera! But in the end we play notes by other people. Which is great , don't get me wrong. There's great music written which I love to play. But I miss that nobody showed me how to make things. Really whatever. To write this blog is something already. But how great would it have been if someone would showed how to come up with subjects, and how to construct a text? I am finding out now as I write. And that works too. Like the old jazz players, who learned to play by doing it, playing sessions, imitating records. Sure, that works too. But if your calling is not strong enough you're stuck reproducing. And I think everyone should know what it is to create something, from nothing. 

Martijn's suggestions during our class

Today I had my first composition class from Martijn padding. It was a revelation. I prepared something for him. A sort of minimalistic modal piece for solo instrument. The first step was to overcome embarrassment. I played so many good notes in my career that after every two notes I judge them: I have heard this before and better. But I did passed this. I think because of photography. I learned to separate the creation flow from the analysis flow. Like practicing, playing and trying to analyze what could be better. 

I sat down at the piano and started playing notes and writing down what I thought sounded good. I did get stuck often. But I just tried to go on. And out came some ideas for my composition class which we used and discussed. I now have a starting point for something new. I am not sure how I will develop this. And that's fine. Even if it won't evolve into a piece it's all good. I spend some hours into making something. And that's what it's about for now. 

Reinventing the way I listen to music with Hank Jones and Charlie Haden

When I started making music it changed my life. It was not only the music itself, but also the social aspect, finding friends who like the same thing. People who like to memorize Michael Brecker solos, who love to study ugly overtones every day and are always on he look out for new music to listen. The way we listened and studied music changed the way I think.

In 2008 this all changed. I as injured in an accident. My ulnar nerve was severed and my right hand was paralyzed for about half. The doctors predicted I could never play again.

They were wrong.

I didn't play for about half a year and started to practice again. My first project was a cd with pieces that I could play with one hand. I released a cd called 'On the Other Hand' after. My idea was that the cd was my final project as a musician or the start of a new period.

It turned out to be the last.

And then I got cancer. Again another season of recovery. Another period of contemplation. 

In the last four years I have largely stopped listening to music. Photography took over. I listened to music intensely for 35 years before that. Discovering so much creativity, sounds, new stuff, ranging from old music to gospel, from baroque to Andrew Lloyd Webber, from Debussy to Xenakis, from Charlie Parker to Evan Parker... And then it stopped. I discovered photography, and kept playing.

Now I have cancer and I am undergoing chemo therapy. And I am rediscovering music. Being a pro musician changed the way I experience music. One of the reasons I listen to music to get something from it. To be inspired for my craft in some way.

Now I am getting back to listening to music. Not being able to play and being in survival mode in my daily life has changed the way I listen to music. 

Charlie Haden & Hank Jones on @AppleMusic

https://itun.es/nl/vbBvD

I found this album through my Apple Music subscription. Gospel-like folk tunes played by Hank Jones (recorded three months before he died) and one of my idols, Charlie Haden.

I have listened to it several times already the last week. I played it for my friends and the album accompanies me on my daily walks. It's a simple album. There's hardly one dissonance on it. The bass parts are basic and the piano doesn't play alterations.

But this album will not give something to work with in my own practice. Yes, maybe abstract inspiration, but no concrete ideas, big or small. I just enjoy this album. No strings attached. I can listen to it and not think about how I can incorporate this somehow in my own playing. I don't listen to this album, listening for things I like or don't like.

Being a musician changed the way I experience music. And that's fine. But I guess that's what people mean when they decide that do not want to be a pro musician and keep enjoying music like a true amateur. Apparently it took me 20 years to discover this. I am not sure if I can go back to this experience of music. But this album is a great start again. 

Mensen zijn gaaf

In de Correspondent verscheen een tijdje geleden dit artikel:

https://decorrespondent.nl/3430/Zet-je-schrap-voor-het-gevaarlijkste-idee-ooit-de-meeste-mensen-deugen/450648855580-14ca88ee

Over Peter Aleksejevitsj Kropotkin:

(foto: de Correspondent)

De strekking is dat Kropotkin geloofde dat alle mensen goed zijn. In een tijd dat Darwin met zijn evolutietheorie kwam was dat een idee dat lijnrecht in ging tegen de tijdsgeest. En ook nu gaan links en rechts er van uit dat de mens in wezen niet te vertrouwen is. Nou ja, lees het artikel en zijn boeken als je er meer over wilt lezen.

Toen ik kanker kreeg en met mijn chemo begon kreeg ik zoveel berichtjes, bloemen, kaartjes, aanbiedingen om te koken, etc. Het was ongelooflijk. Iedereen was zo geëmotioneerd door het nieuws. Meer nog dan ikzelf leek het soms wel. Mensen die ik soms maar zijdelings kende kwamen langs en waren zichtbaar aangedaan. Ik heb een hele andere kant van mijn kennissen- en vriendenkring leren kennen door mijn kanker. Iedereen is zo begaan met me.

Aan de ene kant is het wel gek dat ik hiervoor kanker moet krijgen, aan de andere kant is het ook wel voorstelbaar. Het leven gaat voor veel mensen (inclusief mezelf) als een sneltrein aan me voorbij. Door de kanker en vooral de chemo moet ik pas op de plaats maken. Een seizoen lang. Als je hoort dat iemand in je buurt, op deze leeftijd!, kanker heeft, stop je even met alles wat je doet. Het behoort kennelijk tot de mogelijkheden dat je lekker bezig bent, je leven aan de gang is, en dat dan dit gebeurt. Het is vooral lullig voor mij, maar het doet je even beseffen dat alles kwetsbaar is.

Maar dat is het niet alleen. De mensen om me heen zijn écht met me begaan, en zijn zich veelal rotgeschrokken. Er is meer aan de hand. Iets onverklaarbaars, échte empathie. Opeens valt er een hoop onzin om me heen weg. Soms heb ik het gevoel dat menselijke relaties draaien om, of in ieder geval gedeeltelijk zijn gebaseerd op, geven en nemen, maar dat is nu weg. Ik kan niets tot weinig geven op dit moment. En toch geven mensen mij heel veel. Ze willen wandelingen met me maken, sturen me bloemen, kaartjes, CD's, bellen me. Zonder iets terug te verwachten.

Als er nou iets is wat ik over wil houden aan deze tijd, dan is het in ieder geval dit.

My body

Things are happening to my body. You know, the chemo is like poison, blah blah, kills the bad cancer cells, but also lots of good ones. That's why my hairs falls out for example.

Tonight I woke up and realized that I lost part of the feeling in my left pinky. It's a side effect of the vincristina, the medicine I get in the second week, which I had twice now. The medicine can give nerve damage, not always, but in my case it apparently does. Usually you first lose some feeling in the outer parts of the nerves, finger tips and toes. It could also give some damage to my fine motorics. Usually it is reversible, from what I understand. But doesn't have to be. I already had some weird feeling in both of my wrists, which started with one wrist last week, which I thought was because of the infusion.

It's al very vague still. A non musician might not even have noticed yet. But I am very focussed on it. I want to get as much of this medicine in as we can, but at the same time I do not want to run the risk of damage to my fine motorics, especially in my hands...

I  am not sure what the consequences for my sax playing will be. Probably not so much, but we'll have to see. 

In the mean time I am playing the sax every day. Technique mostly. Scales, patterns for jazz, etudes to give the specific fine motorics I need the play the sax exercise and to know if something is going on with the nerves. 

I spoke to a patient of my doctor who had the same treatment and is finished now for half a year. He feels good again. Actually, he has been feeling good for some months again. This summer the neuropathy did not bother him anymore. Half a year and it was gone in his case. But... The chemo is different for everyone. The nurses cannot and will not give any predictions about how the chemo will affect someone. 

I got quite panicky tonight, feeling my pinky. It's all out of my control. When I have the flue I stay in bed. But I cannot do anything in this case. All I can do is create the best environment to minimize damage, in general. 

My body is still mine. But things are happening. And most of these things, if not (almost?) all are reversible. No reason for panic.

Let's see what the doctor says. She's dealt with this before. She should know.

Next week I have a pet/ct scan to see how the therapy is affecting the cancer. I can already feel the glands shrinking when I feel in my neck and chest. I think it's working. 

Substance and tranquility vs or and entertainment?

I gave myself off for some weeks, off from everything. I gave myself permission to do or not do everything I want. Well, of course I am there for my family when I can, but other than that I did whatever I wanted. I did not play the sax for two weeks. Until my onco-physiotherapist said I should practice my  fine motorics to handle the neuropathy that might be a side-effect of on of the chemo medicins. I am doing etudes, scales every day now, well I try to... It feels like meditation. But it's hard to not always feel I need input, entertainment, music, series, radio, books. To sometimes let go...

This is one of the nurses putting a needle for an infusion in my arm. They don't always hit it the first time. Like last week when my veins were protesting...

Last week I noticed I needed something more. Substance and tranquility. I started meditating again yesterday. With the help of some mp3's. My onco-psychologist gave me some apps and audio to help me.

It feels good to have the time to let these needs seep in. To not always feel obliged to do something that's 'good' for me. After watching all of 'Breaking Bad' in three weeks, starting 'Fargo', a few seasons of ''Modern Family' I started watching documentaries, more public broadcasting, it came by itself. But now I need more. I started this blog, to create something. To publish some photos. I am starting small. Let's see what will follow.

I am thinking about composing, have a new ensemble in mind and I'm doing photography.

Even before I got cancer I felt the need to create something more than before. This might be my chance to start something, with music. I started with photography some years ago and I am expanding. At the conservatory I feel I missed this. To not have created something, to not having learned the tools to make something myself. Even at high school. School in Holland is practical, you're preparing for something that is set-up. Even at the conservatory, although it's more free there. But still, to create something from nothing is magical. Like this blog. Or the picture below. I remember when I took it, right before a concert. I didn't realize it would be something, but it turned out to be this. I love it.

Edit:

Thanks Wouter de moor for posting this quote on FB in reaction to this post:

They blew up my face!

I got an allergic reaction to one of the medicines. One of my best friends apped me that Isis called. Isis? I asked. To claim the explosion of my face....!

The second cycle is heavier than the first one. My body and mind are saying no. The allergy to one of the medicines, but also my veins are closing for the infuse it seems. The nurses couldn't find good veins in my left arm. I want the left arm, because the right one is the one that has nerve damage from my accident in 2008. In the end they had to do the right arm, in the hand itself, which I didn't want either. Because of playing the sax. But it seemed there was no other choice. 

The nausea was quite overwhelming this time as well. But at least I know better what to expect after the first cycle. 

Today is a better day. Slight naesea. But I feel like eating and some tranquility. The despair in the first cycle was tough. To be honest. 

I woke up Monday night at 2:00 with his face. Can you imagine? Red eyes and 39,5 fever, even with the prednisone. The worst of this cycle is over at least. 

12 hours later my face was back to normal with no fever. The next bag of medicin was ready to go in.

I am trying to train my saxophone technique every day to train the fine motorics, as adviced by the onco-physiotherapist (yes, this is a profession!). On hand it feels very good, practicing only technique, like a meditation, but on the other hand, I am not sure how my technique is now. It doesn't seem to be as fluent as before he chemo. Not sure why, fatigue, neuropathy (possible nerve damage because of one of the medicines), other things. I want to just focus on doing it. The medicines will have to go in anyway....

That's something new for me: I have to take these medicines because otherwise I will die... Sounds dramatic, but my onco-psychologist (also a profession!) pointed this out to me today.

Again, I will get better, and stronger than before. With some scars, physical and emotional, but hey, I will be able to play the blues better!

I won the main prize at the Fotogram competition!

My photography professor gave me a heads up that she wanted me present at the award ceremony of the Fotogram competition (http://www.fotogram.nl/fotogram-prijs/nominaties-fotogram-prijs-2015/)

I told her that I couldn't be there because of my resistance. The chemo therapy I am getting now kills my resistance to virus's and bacterias. I can't be in confined spaced with a lot of people. So my parents picked up the prize. They just called me: the main prize. I can't believe it!

These are some of the pictures I won with:

It made me kind of emotional to be honest. I am making photos since 2011 now and have developed quite a portfolio in the last years. I won something before but this is much bigger. When I started I loved to make something out of nothing. A thing that I have always missed in my musical practice. I made the promise to make photos for myself i the first place. But you know, it's tempting to enter a competition and have your work compared to others. Something I have done many times with my music. And of course one can ask what the extra worth is of having your work compared to others, especially when one makes it just for oneself... But still, couldn't be prouder! I am making something out of nothing and there are at least some people that like it, see something in it....

I would have loved to be there, but my main focus is my health....

It's not a fight

I have been getting chemo therapy for five weeks now. And I'll tell you: it's not a fight. It's not something I can beat. It's something that happened to me. For no apparent reason. I live quite healthy. And moreover, this type of cancer is not caused by anything I could have prevented. 

Other than that I am trying to find several things in my life:

Routine (getting up, breakfast, etc)

Sports (to keep my muscles in shape)

Play sax (to monitor my nerves that might be damaged due to one of the medicines)

Pass time (series, movies, books)

Tranquility (meditation, mindfulness)

Substance (photography, documentaries, composing)

But the priority goes to things that I need to survive. 

I am sitting this one out. Getting through my days. Making walks, watching series. Maybe starting some composing. Making photos. Sleeping, trying to get over my nausea. Rides and walks to the hospital. And trying to remain as healthy as I can. The medicines are starting to take effect. My muscles are getting less, concentration, tiredness. At the end it will be the worst. And again, there's nothing I can do. There are cancer patients who gave up and came back, there are the ones that were really fighting and didn't make it.... It's all luck. It's shitty. It's teaching me to let go more. That's what I'm hoping to get out of this. 

When I feel well I love my time with no deadlines with my partner and the kids. That's my greatest enjoyment.

Here's a photograph I made yesterday. A still life:

Cancer, really?!

In the hospital taxi on my way to the VU Medical Center for the third day of chemotherapy in the second cycle. 

Each cycle lasts three weeks. I started 24 August. In July I was in Mexico to visit my father in law with our family. I got a massive on pain on my chest there and went to the doctor. She had a ultra sound done which showed some swellings in my chest and under my armpits.

This is the advice the radiologist have after the ultra sound. Of course I was immediately alarmed. We all were. But the vacation was good in the end. 

When we came back my Gp send me with urgency to the Lucas Andreas hospital where I had to stay for some days. After several punctions that were not succesful they removed one of my glands. It could still be an infection. But in retrospect I think if they had to put money on it, they would root for cancer. After about two weeks the word was out: lymph node cancer. They told me that it was relatively good news. This is the 'best' type of cancer you can get. And they were afraid for methastized muscle or thymus cancer. That would have been very bad.

After one week more they told me it was Hodgkin's disease. From all lymph node cancers the 'best' type you can get. With a heavy chemo (beacopp escalated) there is a 90% chance of getting better. 

I like to think that my chances are even better because I am relatively young, have good blood values, am relatively fit and do not have diabetes or anything. 

In the end, well fuck, I got cancer... Shit.... On good days I try to see as a sabbatical. On bad days I try to get past the days, hours. 

I'll be back. Better than before.

More later. 

three concerts

I have some time again.

And I was at two concerts last week and tonight I will go to Martin Fondse at the Kring in Amsterdam.

Last week I went to Guy and Roni in Amstelveen, their last show. There was a lot going 'round about this show so I wanted to check it out. The music by David Dramm I enjoyed very much, and the playing Monica Germino, Anne LaBerge and Tomoko Mukaiyama was great.

Saturday I went to de Zaterdagmatinee at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. I didn't expect too much, it being at the Concertgebouw, tiny seats, you have to be quiet, etc. But it was a great concert by the Musikfabrik. They played a program about virtuosity. A concept that didn't mean anything. What I heard was a program with a variety of works that were all played extremely well and with great passion. I didn't care too much for the Paganini which, I guess, was in the program because of the concept, but other than that, it was great.

I came in the first place for Anthony Fiumara's new piece for string quartet. Very minimal, with a clear form and story. The piece was original and I believe that Fiumara will be around for a long time if he keeps writing pieces like this. I loved it.

Ligeti's piano concerto was unbelievable. Wow, what a piece. I think I heard this before, but this time it left un everlasting impression on me.

There was also an ensemble piece by Lachenmann. I am not sure what I thought of this, but I was comfortable and at ease. I just let everything come over me. And that was the experience... almost zen-like.

And of course: On Jimmie Yancey by Andriessen. I heard this many times before. A fantastic piece, one of the Dutch high lights in the repertoire. Musikfabrik plays very well, but I do miss the Volharding a little bit in this case :-)

Einaudi II

Unless I get in another Uber taxi with an Einaudi lover, ...

...I will not write about him again after this:
________________________________
Again. I got in an Uber taxi and I heard some piano chords that sounded terribly familiar. I asked the driver who it was.

Ludovico Einaudi, yet again....

Now I told him about my experience from last week right away (http://tinyurl.com/pbqgt4n). Again I asked the driver why he liked this music. It gave him tranquility. He said he drives 80 hours a week and he needs something to make him quiet, something to separate him from the unrest around him. Something that not stimulates him too much, but just makes his mind calm down.

Although this man was not so philosophical as the driver from last week, there were 2 (!) Einaudi lovers in one week in my taxi. And he gave more or less the same reason for loving the music of Einaudi.
He also plays a bit of piano and loves classical music. We started to discuss music in general and came to the conclusion that Einaudi might be good for people to enter the world of classical music that is not Mozart or Brahms. I hope they evolve and discover other music. Music that does move you, in some way, or tells you a story, or whatever.... But music that does something and is not merely grey-ish wallpaper.

I cannot imagine that one would still listen to Einaudi, even to relax or meditate, once you've heard Reich or Glass.

Einaudi

I was in an uber taxi some days ago...

... and the driver and I got to talk. The guy was about 25 years old and seemed very sympathetic. At some point I asked him if he was interested in music. He told he went through a life changing event 12 months ago. I asked him what it was. He said it was the discovery of Einaudi's music. I didn't want to tell him my opinion just yet and asked him what compelled him about this music. He told me that it was the lack of emotion of the music. It didn't impose feeling on him. Einaudi's music enhanced his own emotion.
I love the explanation. Although I do not like Einaudi's music at all, the definition gave me chills.
Later on I told him what I think about this music. I guess one the reasons I do not like this music at all, is the absolute lack of feeling in it. The same reason he loves it.
He was surprised but also very open. I gave him a list of 'homework'. Composers like Glass, Reich and even Nyman.

This man went through a very important life event because of this music. Music that I consider to be the musical equivalant of a MacDonalds hamburger. No nutritional value whatsoever, and you're hungry again after five minutes.

Intriguing....

(Sorry for the typos)

Agenda updated until March