Writing to Vermeer

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DescriptionExcerpt

Gramophone calls this 1998 collaboration between Andriessen and librettist Peter Greenaway about the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer "altogether absorbing." Time Out New York exclaims: "Nonesuch has gone out of its way to make this recording a striking sonic document."

Description

Nonesuch Records releases Writing to Vermeer, an opera with music by Louis Andriessen and libretto by Peter Greenaway. Reinbert de Leeuw conducts the Asko Ensemble and Schönberg Ensemble, with soloists soprano Susan Narucki (Catharina Bolnes), mezzo soprano Susan Bickley, (Maria Thins), and soprano Barbara Hannigan (Saskia de Vries), along with the children’s choir, De Kickers, from Amsterdam’s Muziekschool Waterland, a women’s chorus, and Michel van der Aa’s electronic music inserts.

Writing to Vermeer was given its world premiere by De Nederlandse Opera in 1999 at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, in a production co-directed by Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke; it was first heard in the U.S. at the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival.

The opera is set in 1672, the year Dutch history books describe as “The Year of Disaster.” France, England, and the German bishoprics of Munster and Cologne declared war against the Netherlands and conquered large parts of the country. The dikes were breached, and the Prince of Orange retreated behind the water defense line around the western province of Holland. Trade and industry came to a standstill. It was the largest financial crash in the Dutch Republic’s short history and marked the end of the Dutch Golden Age. The opera ends in a deluge depicting the last desperate act of the Dutch to keep their country from invasion: the breaking of the dikes. Peter Greenaway, who had long been fascinated by Johannes Vermeer, based Writing to Vermeer on a series of fictitious letters addressed to the painter from three women: his real mother-in-law and his real wife, and a model (a fictional character). The letters are sent to the painter in May 1672, when he had traveled to The Hague to attempt to authenticate several dubious Italian paintings purchased by the Grand Elector of Brandenburg. The opera explores the stark contrast between the serene domestic world of Vermeer’s life and paintings, with their tasteful distilled interiors, and the turbulent events of the time.

The creative partnership between Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and British director and visual artist Peter Greenaway began in 1994 with Rosa (a horse drama), which Nonesuch released in 2000. Other recordings of Andriessen’s major works on Nonesuch are De Staat, De Tijd, De Stijl, and De Materie. The New York Times has called his compositions “some of the most important music written in the last two decades.”

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Ron Ford
Recorded June 29-30, 2004, at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Engineered by Jan Stellingwerff
Edited by Gert de Bruin and Paul Lardenooie at dutchView, Hilversum, the Netherlands
Mastered by Hans Bunt at dutchView

Music by Louis Andriessen
Libretto by Peter Greenaway
Electronic Music by Michel van der Aa

Design by Barbara deWilde
Photography by Hans van den Bogaard
Cover: Young Woman Holding a Water Pitcher © 2006 Sophie Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Nonesuch Selection Number

79887

Number of Discs in Set
2discs
ns_album_artistid
6
ns_album_id
605
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
Louis Andriessen
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
De Nederlandse Opera
Susan Narucki, soprano
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano

Schönberg Ensemble and Asko Ensemble
Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
Jan Erik van Regteren Altena, Monica Germino, Marijke van Kooten, Wim de Jong, Lydia Forbes, Myrte van Westerop, violin I
Heleen Hulst, Marie-José Schrijner, Anna McMichael, Inge Jongerman, Maaike Aarts, Nelleke Scholten, violin II
Susanne van Els, Bart Peters, Bernadette Verhagen, Marieke de Jong, viola
Doris Hochscheid, Hans Woudenberg, Lucia Swarts, Eduard van Regteren Altena, cello
Pieter Smithuijsen, Quirijn van Regteren Altena, double bass
Carla Meijers, Nola Exel, Mirjam Teepe, flute
Evert Weidner, Marieke Schut, oboe
Liesbeth de Jong, bass clarinet
Harry Sparnaay, contrabass clarinet
Wim Timmermans, Serguei Dovgaliouk, French horn
Willem van der Vliet, Marc Busscher, trumpet
Ernestine Stoop, Godelieve Schrama, harp
Pauline Post, René Eckhardt, piano
Paul van Utrecht, Patricio Wang, electric guitar
Michiel Weidner, cimbalom
Ger de Zeeuw, Peppie Wiersma, percussion

Childrenchoir "De Kickers" from Muziekschool Waterland: Jan Maarten Koeman, coaching; Brenda van Duijkeren, Wendy van Epen, Jan Kistemaker, Jacob Schroevers

Vocal ensemble: Winfried Maczewski, coaching; Melanie Greve, Tomoko Makuuchi, Marjolein Niels, Violet Serena Noorduyn, Martine Straesser, Marijje van Stralen

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597988727BUN
Label
MP3
Price
19.00
UPC
075597988765
  • 79887

Track Listing

News & Reviews

  • Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 64th Grammy Awards: The Black Keys' Delta Kream for Best Contemporary Blues Album; Rhiannon Giddens' They're Calling Me Home with Francesco Turrisi for Best Folk Album and Best American Roots Song, for the track "Avalon"; Spike Lee's film of David Byrne's American Utopia on Broadway for Best Music Film; Louis Andriessen's The only one and Caroline Shaw's Narrow Sea for Best Contemporary Classical Composition; k.d. lang and Tracy Young's "Constant Craving (Fashionably Late Remix)" for Best Remixed Recording; and Mike Elizondo for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, for work including Lake Street Dive's Obviously. You can hear all the nominated works here.

  • "They were both fearless, pushing back against the severe music that seemed to dominate the modern composition landscape during the 1960s and 1970s, the same music that was, by the way, a major part of Nonesuch’s identity during that period," writes Nonesuch Records Chairman Emeritus Bob Hurwitz, in a remembrance of composers Louis Andriessen and Frederic Rzewski. "Neither was afraid to reference vernacular music, and jazz, and popular and folk music, and most importantly, both embraced a tonal language that was out of favor at the moment they were coming of age as composers. Their music was deadly serious at times, and polemical and political, but it could be humorous, and always filled with humanity."

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  • About This Album

    Nonesuch Records releases Writing to Vermeer, an opera with music by Louis Andriessen and libretto by Peter Greenaway. Reinbert de Leeuw conducts the Asko Ensemble and Schönberg Ensemble, with soloists soprano Susan Narucki (Catharina Bolnes), mezzo soprano Susan Bickley, (Maria Thins), and soprano Barbara Hannigan (Saskia de Vries), along with the children’s choir, De Kickers, from Amsterdam’s Muziekschool Waterland, a women’s chorus, and Michel van der Aa’s electronic music inserts.

    Writing to Vermeer was given its world premiere by De Nederlandse Opera in 1999 at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, in a production co-directed by Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke; it was first heard in the U.S. at the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival.

    The opera is set in 1672, the year Dutch history books describe as “The Year of Disaster.” France, England, and the German bishoprics of Munster and Cologne declared war against the Netherlands and conquered large parts of the country. The dikes were breached, and the Prince of Orange retreated behind the water defense line around the western province of Holland. Trade and industry came to a standstill. It was the largest financial crash in the Dutch Republic’s short history and marked the end of the Dutch Golden Age. The opera ends in a deluge depicting the last desperate act of the Dutch to keep their country from invasion: the breaking of the dikes. Peter Greenaway, who had long been fascinated by Johannes Vermeer, based Writing to Vermeer on a series of fictitious letters addressed to the painter from three women: his real mother-in-law and his real wife, and a model (a fictional character). The letters are sent to the painter in May 1672, when he had traveled to The Hague to attempt to authenticate several dubious Italian paintings purchased by the Grand Elector of Brandenburg. The opera explores the stark contrast between the serene domestic world of Vermeer’s life and paintings, with their tasteful distilled interiors, and the turbulent events of the time.

    The creative partnership between Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and British director and visual artist Peter Greenaway began in 1994 with Rosa (a horse drama), which Nonesuch released in 2000. Other recordings of Andriessen’s major works on Nonesuch are De Staat, De Tijd, De Stijl, and De Materie. The New York Times has called his compositions “some of the most important music written in the last two decades.”

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    De Nederlandse Opera
    Susan Narucki, soprano
    Barbara Hannigan, soprano
    Susan Bickley, mezzo-soprano

    Schönberg Ensemble and Asko Ensemble
    Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
    Jan Erik van Regteren Altena, Monica Germino, Marijke van Kooten, Wim de Jong, Lydia Forbes, Myrte van Westerop, violin I
    Heleen Hulst, Marie-José Schrijner, Anna McMichael, Inge Jongerman, Maaike Aarts, Nelleke Scholten, violin II
    Susanne van Els, Bart Peters, Bernadette Verhagen, Marieke de Jong, viola
    Doris Hochscheid, Hans Woudenberg, Lucia Swarts, Eduard van Regteren Altena, cello
    Pieter Smithuijsen, Quirijn van Regteren Altena, double bass
    Carla Meijers, Nola Exel, Mirjam Teepe, flute
    Evert Weidner, Marieke Schut, oboe
    Liesbeth de Jong, bass clarinet
    Harry Sparnaay, contrabass clarinet
    Wim Timmermans, Serguei Dovgaliouk, French horn
    Willem van der Vliet, Marc Busscher, trumpet
    Ernestine Stoop, Godelieve Schrama, harp
    Pauline Post, René Eckhardt, piano
    Paul van Utrecht, Patricio Wang, electric guitar
    Michiel Weidner, cimbalom
    Ger de Zeeuw, Peppie Wiersma, percussion

    Childrenchoir "De Kickers" from Muziekschool Waterland: Jan Maarten Koeman, coaching; Brenda van Duijkeren, Wendy van Epen, Jan Kistemaker, Jacob Schroevers

    Vocal ensemble: Winfried Maczewski, coaching; Melanie Greve, Tomoko Makuuchi, Marjolein Niels, Violet Serena Noorduyn, Martine Straesser, Marijje van Stralen

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Ron Ford
    Recorded June 29-30, 2004, at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, the Netherlands
    Engineered by Jan Stellingwerff
    Edited by Gert de Bruin and Paul Lardenooie at dutchView, Hilversum, the Netherlands
    Mastered by Hans Bunt at dutchView

    Music by Louis Andriessen
    Libretto by Peter Greenaway
    Electronic Music by Michel van der Aa

    Design by Barbara deWilde
    Photography by Hans van den Bogaard
    Cover: Young Woman Holding a Water Pitcher © 2006 Sophie Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz