The Treasure Hunt with Bas Wiegers

Bas Wiegers

A personal account by conductor Bas Wiegers about how a musical score functions as a treasure map and leads to a concert, and many other aspects of a conductor’s life. read less

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About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time. Links to the pieces: Charles Ives: Country Band March President's Own United States Marine Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avowzDI8uR0 Charles Ives (orch. T. Grahl, 2021): Walt Whitman - (1921) from 114 Songs Klangforum Wien, Thomas Hampson, Bas Wiegers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnO8dJJPYs Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Bas Wiegers, Ralph van Raat Private recording Charles Ives: March No. 6 for Piano, with Here's to Good Old Yale Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMW0r_ZxFm8&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=41 Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 1. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbutHpwEh8 Charles Ives: They Are There!, second take Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0iNeRvNts&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=39 Charles Ives: Four Transcriptions from Emerson: No. 1 (beg.) Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8lNFR5xWw&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=1 Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Ytm0l0FTU Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question Ricciotti Ensemble, Leonard van Goudoever Private Recording

Episodes

About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time. Links to the pieces: Charles Ives: Country Band March President's Own United States Marine Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avowzDI8uR0 Charles Ives (orch. T. Grahl, 2021): Walt Whitman - (1921) from 114 Songs Klangforum Wien, Thomas Hampson, Bas Wiegers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnO8dJJPYs Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Bas Wiegers, Ralph van Raat Private recording Charles Ives: March No. 6 for Piano, with Here's to Good Old Yale Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMW0r_ZxFm8&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=41 Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 1. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbutHpwEh8 Charles Ives: They Are There!, second take Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0iNeRvNts&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=39 Charles Ives: Four Transcriptions from Emerson: No. 1 (beg.) Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8lNFR5xWw&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=1 Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Ytm0l0FTU Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question Ricciotti Ensemble, Leonard van Goudoever Private Recording

With Theo Loevendie, preparing for the Concertgebouw Orchestra

With Theo Loevendie, preparing for the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Today I'm spending some time with the 93 year old Theo Loevendie, one of the first living composers I worked with as a student. I'm coming back to his music after 25 years, to prepare two concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. We speak about his youth, his influences, and about the two works I'm preparing: Flexio for orchestra and Six Turkish Folk Poems for singer and orchestra. Here's info about the music you hear: Draaiorgel Sarie Marais - Appeltjes van Oranje https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOlWzqXXnY Glenn Miller - American Patrol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAVejLjXVdw Umm Kulthum - 1967, Live at the Olympia, Paris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGHpBOt5sE Theo Loevendie - Six Turkish Folk Poems Dorothy Dorow, soprano Residentie Orkest Ernest Bour, conductor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4090D14hs Theo Loevendie - Flexio Residentie Orkest Peter Eötvös, conductor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxMTfeEbFQ&t=412s Theo Loevendie - Venus and Adonis Insomnio: Carlos Galvez, bass clarinet Bas Wiegers, violin Martine Sikkenk, mandolin Reinhold Westerheide, guitar Ulrich Pöhl, percussion (private recording) Photo Loevendie: Teo Krijgsman

With Rebecca Saunders, on working closely with musicians

With Rebecca Saunders, on working closely with musicians

I have a chat with Rebecca Saunders, who works very closely with musicians to find the sounds she loves. We speak about the new piece (Skull) which we have just premiered at the Achtbrücken Festival, but also about other pieces and musicians who have inspired her. I’ve woven small fragments of her music into the episode. If you want to have a proper listen to the entire pieces, the links are below. YES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuJLKb0Vwc Ensemble Musikfabrik, Juliet Fraser, Enno Poppe DUST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA2P7PQp0OU Dirk Rothbrust, percussion SKIN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdODcg2Fmw Klangforum Wien, Juliet Fraser, Bas Wiegers SCAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BriQ35IrGxA Klangforum Wien, Julien Leroy

With Johanna Zimmer, on singing in very different situations

With Johanna Zimmer, on singing in very different situations

For this episode, I spoke with Johanna Zimmer, a wonderful soprano I had the joy of working with many times. She works as a soloist, as a chamber musician, in the choir, in opera. We speak about this versatility and why she needs it in her life. We speak about words in music and how important they are for us as musicians. At the moment, we are working with the SWR Vokalensemble on a program with music by Ligeti, Feldman and Orlando di Lasso. The music you hear, is: György Ligeti - Three Fantasies: Wenn aus der Ferne SWR Vokalensemble, Yuval Weinberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvJzdYziCic Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel SWR Vokalensemble, Marcus Creed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGQe3NsuvfM&t=636s Orlando di Lasso - Lagrime di San Pietro: il magnanimo Pietro Ensemble Vocal Européen, Philippe Herreweghe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeHZQ83oFQM Franz Tunder - Ach Herr, lass deine lieben Engelein Johanna Zimmer, Ensemble with Fabian Wöhrle, continuo

A talk with Enno Poppe

A talk with Enno Poppe

For this episode, I spoke with Enno Poppe. At the moment of recording, I am doing his piece Speicher with Klangforum Wien. We speak about deciding what ideas you want to put in a piece, Enno's love of idiomatic material and his close relationship to players, which is so important for the way he writes. We speak about the different roles we can have: in the case of Enno, he is not only a composer, but also a conductor, a player, and, of course, also sometimes audience. How does his persona change when his role changes? Is a conductor a different person? The music you hear is: Enno Poppe - Speicher (Klangforum Wien, Enno Poppe) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_43dJWjFw Enno Poppe - Augen (Sara Maria Sun, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Bas Wiegers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiG3uWah1s

Getting to know Chaya Czernowin

Getting to know Chaya Czernowin

In this episode, I try to describe the process of getting to know a composer I haven't worked with before. To my great joy, I finally get to work with Chaya Czernowin. I try to explain how I get into her music, I speak to her about the music, and we listen to some inspiring musicians playing her music.

Joseph Haydn, the great surpriser

Joseph Haydn, the great surpriser

In this episode, I try to share how I fell in love with Joseph Haydn. It's a shout out to my former theory teachers! I'm preparing two of his symphonies (38 and 101) for a concert with the Münchener Kammerorchester, and studying and rehearsing these works is so exciting and refreshing. Why does Haydn inspire me so much? And how can we keep discovering his music over and over again? Here are links to the full recordings of the fragments I used: Starsailor, Four on the floor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k98fnaHGjwU String Quartet no 57, Dudok Quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9umdVIyx13w Symphony no 103, Sigiswald Kuyken & La Petite Bande https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWexiBzbqTw&t=3 Symphony no 101, Frans Brüggen, Orchestra of the 18th Century https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Qtu15FLTM&t=2s

With Trevor Grahl: on finding treasures

With Trevor Grahl: on finding treasures

A chat with composer and good friend Trevor Grahl about taste and fashion in music, the pressure to follow this fashion, and the journey to to find your own voice. Links to the pieces: Kapote https://youtu.be/ZXs8Q6UYANU Sterre Konijn, voice Jurjen Hempel, conductor RKST21 Dreams of Machines: https://youtu.be/4RtBrQG6hnw Brno Contemporary Orchestra, Pavel Šnajdr, conductor Wolfgang Heisig, pianola Of Ancient Days: https://youtu.be/XNCihLvcjDo Trevor Grahl, organ Babbelbox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXbShFT_rGY&ab_channel=Lonelinoise Sebastiaan Kemner - trombone & chicken Vincent van Wijk - Oboe D'amore & poser

With Georg Friedrich Haas: on interpretation

With Georg Friedrich Haas: on interpretation

In this episode, I speak with the great composer Georg Friedrich Haas. I try find out what he has to say about "interpretation", this space between what a composer writes down and what a musician makes of it. We speak about communicating your ideas with an orchestra, teaching young composers and writing for Austrian brass bands.

A chat with Mollena

A chat with Mollena

I have the magnificent Mollena Lee Williams Haas as my guest. We speak about the opera Sycorax and its characters. About women in opera, people of color in opera, and generally about how to make stories that translate to as many people as possible. About opera as a way to make people see what life is. Also, about Georg Friedrich Haas, and about our previous collaboration in Mollena’s and GF’s joint piece Hyena. The music is an excerpt of Hyena, the live recording of the première at Wien Modern, with Mollena speaking, Klangforum Wien playing and me conducting. The recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oa4uCKbj4g&list=RD5oa4uCKbj4g&start_radio=1 By the way, contrary to what I’m announcing in the talk, we heard a bit of the BEGINNING of Hyena, not the ending. Mollena’s own podcast can be found here: https://allthatandmo.com

Sycorax, a new opera!

Sycorax, a new opera!

Discovering the building stones of Sycorax, the new opera by Georg Friedrich Haas. We hear some Haas, some Grisey, some Vivier, some Tibetan throat singers, and a wonderful Jubilate. G.F. Haas - Limited Approximations - SWR Sinfonieorchester and Sylvain Cambreling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoqvGLdjUhE&t=1540s Gérard Grisey - Partiels - Asko Ensemble and Stefan Asbury https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v7onrjN6RE&t=30s Claude Vivier - Lonely Child - AskoSchoenberg and Reinbert de Leeuw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP23EnBQjw8 G.F. Haas - String Quartet no 9 - Jack Quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_2bg3utv8&t=409s W.A. Mozart - Exsultate, Jubilate - Julia Lezhneva and Helsinki Baroque Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLan_H8w8S4 W.A. Mozart - Ach, ich fühl's by - Christiane Oelze, English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg96zrTe_jY

The Treasure Hunt, a personal account by conductor Bas Wiegers about how a musical score functions as a treasure map and leads to a concert. Also an upbeat to the next episode, where I will tell you more about Sycorax, a new opera by Georg Friedrich Haas, opening at the Bern opera house in September 2022. Mirela Ivicevic - Black Moon Lilith - RSB Berlin, Bas Wiegers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unJRA38yvX8 Georg Friedrich Haas - in vain - Klangforum Wien, Sylvain Cambreling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUfLkc_Smvg W.A. Mozart - Symphony no 40 - Concentus Musicus, Nicolaus Harnoncourt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5iVnSBOz6w