Bijdetijds 16th of April 2025 Broadcast
In Rotterdam, contemporary music takes a different path. Where The Hague School, think Andriessen and his students, embraces driving minimalism stripped of sentiment, Rotterdam composers combine a modern idiom with deep personal expression, closer to the German tradition of Wolfgang Rihm.
The DoelenKwartet demonstrates this in a program that brings two Rotterdam works to Leeuwarden: Bart de Kemp’s Ciacona (1959–2005), a restless piece with echoes of the interwar years, and Edward Top’s First String Quartet (1972), modern yet profoundly romantic.
For contrast, the program closes with Steve Reich’s classic Different Trains, first made famous by the Kronos Quartet and now performed in full by the DoelenKwartet.