While clearing out my music room, I keep coming across small pieces of my musical past. Among them are concert programs, newspaper clippings and reviews that I had almost forgotten about.

This review dates from my years at the Rotterdam Conservatory, after a performance of Richard Strauss’s Don Quixotewith the Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Reading it now, I am reminded not only of that particular concert, but also of the atmosphere of those years: building an orchestra, discovering repertoire, and learning the craft of making music together.

Some memories return unexpectedly, not because they are nostalgic, but because they reveal part of the journey that has shaped who I am as a musician today.

Conservatory Orchestra Lays Its Foundation

By Willem Jan Keizer

Rotterdam – For many years, the Rotterdam Conservatory had to do without its own symphony orchestra. Usually this was simply because there were not enough students to form one, and occasionally because the available musicians did not yet meet the required standard. In recent years, however, determined efforts have been made to overcome this situation, now entirely through the conservatory’s own resources—that is, with an orchestra made up exclusively of its students.

Last night, the orchestra gave its annual end-of-year concert in De Doelen, providing an excellent opportunity to evaluate what a year of intensive work had achieved.

The programme was an ambitious one, centred on Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote. Already in the opening work, Wagner’s Overture to Der fliegende Holländer, the orchestra’s strengths and weaknesses became apparent. The violin section, small in number, struggled to balance the powerful brass section and was at times almost overwhelmed. The lower strings were also disproportionately large, making the violins sound even thinner by comparison.

Added to this were the violinists’ difficulties in playing the rapid passages with precision and unanimity—a weakness that became even more apparent under the musical “magnifying glass” of Don Quixote. Clearly, there is still much work to be done in this area. In other words, the violin department has not yet reached the level required to compete within the demands of orchestral performance.

The wind section, however, told a different story. In particular, the principal oboe and principal clarinet delivered flawless performances.

In Vaughan Williams’s Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, featuring a brilliant solo performance by tubist Arjan Stroop, the orchestra played a less prominent role. Yet in the typically English romantic passages, the ensemble occasionally indulged in overly sentimental playing. Despite the increasing number of mistakes as the concert progressed, it nevertheless became clear that the foundation for a fine orchestra has now been laid.

Most encouraging of all was the discovery of violist Karin Dolman, who performed the viola solo in Strauss’s Don Quixote and revealed herself as an outstanding talent. She possesses a rich, warm tone that blended far more naturally into the orchestral texture than the cello playing of Herre-Jan Stegenga in the same work.

Great Hall, De Doelen – Rotterdam Conservatory Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arie van Beek. Soloists: Arjan Stroop (tuba), Karin Dolman (viola), Herre-Jan Stegenga (cello). Works by Wagner, Vaughan Williams and Strauss. Heard on 25 June; repeated the following evening at the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam.