arnoud noordegraaf

composer | director

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Verzonken

alt sax solo, reed quintet, samples, video

composed and directed by Arnoud Noordegraaf

written for Raaf Hekkema & Calefax

commissioned by Calefax / NFPK+


premiere: May 25 2011. Muziekgebouw Amsterdam.


performances in 2012:

January 29, Kunstkerk Dordrecht.

February 5, Muziekgebouw aan het IJ, Amsterdam

Feb. 8, 2012, Plaza Futura, Eindhoven.

Feb 10, 2012, Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh, Utrecht.

Feb 11, 2012, De Doelen, Rotterdam.

Feb. 14 2012, de Link, Tilburg

March 29, Concertgebouw Amsterdam

 

Verzonken is a composition for alto saxophone solo and four reed players: oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet and bassoon. It is written as a part of my composer-in-residence with the Calefax reed quintet in 2010/2011.


Raaf Hekkema will be soloing on the sax, in a concert with five vertical video screens that move around on stage. In Verzonken four of the screens form a group, and one is alone on the other side of the stage. The players are divided in a similar way.

A central theme in this work is the prolongation of breath; musically I play with the technique of circular breathing, where a player can keep playing a single note or a melody, without ever stopping to take a breath.

To couter this, in video images we will see Raaf in a dream-like world, trapped underwater, slowly becoming aware of the live world and the musicians on stage.


Verzonken premiered at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam May 26 2011 and tours ’11/’12


Check out the video preview: