Contemporary Music on Historic Square Fortepianos

Concert with contemporary and newly created compositions for fortepiano, including both the finalist compositions of the 2013 Call for Compositions  and (a selection of the) laureate compositions of the earlier concourses, as well as other new compositions.

Musicians and Instruments:

Kaoru Iwamura: Square Piano, Fortepiano

Megumi Tanno: Square Piano, Fortepiano

Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya: Square Piano

Michael Tsalka: Square Piano, Fortepiano and Harpsichord

Mårten Falk: Guitar

Kinga Prada Sagvik: Flute

Makiko Goto: Koto

Programma:

Gabriele Toia (b. 1969): Preludio, il profilo del Rosa.

Italy, 2014. Dutch Premiere.

Panos Iliopoulos (b. 1984): KKS for Square Piano.

Netherlands / Greece, 2014. Dutch Premiere

Max Yount (b. 1938): Sonatine.

USA, 2014. Dutch Premiere.

Anna Mikhailova (b. 1984): 8 City Voices Fugue.

Netherlands / Russia, 2014: Dutch Premiere.

Leonardo Coral (b. 1962): Sonata No. 9, Miradas elementales (Elemental Viewpoints).

Mexico City, 2013. Dutch Premiere.

1. Esencias marinas y minerales (Marine and mineral substances)
2. Noche (Night)
3. Aurora boreal (Aurora borealis)
4. Ensoñación (Reverie)
5. Juegos alados y resplandores (Winged matches and blazes)

Daniel Laumans (b. 1972): Variations for Clavier.

Germany, 2013. World Premiere.

Anna Mikhailova (b. 1984): Shogi. White Dragon.

Netherlands / Russia, 2011. Dutch Premiere.

Haruyo Horie (b. 1944): Suite for Square Piano. The Wanderer.

Japan, 2014. World Premiere.

1. Prologue
2. Elegy
3. A Sunny Spot
4. A gentle Breeze
5. Ant’s File
6. A Spider’s Thread
7. Grass on the Riverbank
8. Reminiscence
9. Waves
10. A Swallow
11. Slow Procession
12. To Friends

René Samson (b. 1948): Waterspel.

Netherlands / Suriname, 2013.

Reinhard Siegert (b. 1982): Composition for Square Piano.

Netherlands/ Germany, 2014: Dutch Premiere

Robert Schulz (b. 1950): Wedding Rag, Hello Rag.

Australia, 2003. Dutch Premiere.

Christofer Elgh (b.1969): Inegals, For Guitar, Flute, and Harpsichord Trio.

Sweden, 2014. World Premiere.

Why a Fortepiano Piano Festival, a Square Piano Concours and a Call for Compositions for Square Piano?

The festival’s aim is to attract public interest to the fortepiano in general and to the square piano in particular, as an instrument, which had a progressive, even emancipatory influence on music practice at all levels of society, from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century.

The square piano now lives in oblivion. If instruments survived the hardships of time at all, they are usually in non-playable condition, standing around as decorative pieces of period furniture.

Surviving instruments, which have found a place in museums or musical instruments collections, are often untouchable; kept behind vitrines or stored in depots. Such instruments suffer from negligence by not being played on.

With this initiative, Museum Geelvinck hopes to invoke re-appreciation with experts in the music world as with the general public alike, for the square piano, with its special, delicate sonority, as one of the key instruments in the development of piano music from the late Baroque to the early Romantic period. We strive to acquire the necessary funds for the restoration of instruments, which are valuable and can still give many hours of pleasure to future generations.

Museum Geelvinck is honored to announce its co-operation with The Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival in Kuopio, Finland, 13 – 22 August 2014, http://www.nordicclavichord.org/

Call for Contemporary Compositions for Square Piano with …

Composers are invited to send in a solo or chamber composition of 5 to 10 minutes duration. Accompanying instruments might be chosen from the whole range of western or non-western instruments, including electronic devices and voice.

Please, note the specific technical characteristics of the square piano: The range of most instruments of the eighteenth century does not exceed five to five and a half octaves. Broadwood square pianos et alia from around 1829 (the earliest Broadwood six octave in our collection) onwards, usually have six octaves. Also the pitch of these instruments varies from later piano’s: 415 Hz – 430 Hz, an aspect to take into account, in case the piece combines square piano with strings or wind instruments.

The score, together with a short biography (and an audio or YouTube sample of the piece, if available) can be sent via email to: Ms. Dunya Verwey, info@geelvinck.nl

The deadline is early September 2014.

Partners

Amsterdam Conservatorium
Royal Conservatorium The Hague
Finchcocks Museum for Musical Instruments (Kent, UK)
Nordic Historical Keyboard Festival (Kuopio, Finland)
Friends of Square Pianos
Young Pianists Foundation / YPF
Musica Antiqua Festival / MAF, Brugge
Festival for Early Music, Utrecht / Oude Muziek Festival Utrecht
John Broadwood and Sons Ltd, Est. 1728, Pianoforte Makers