Compositiestudenten Conservatorium van Amsterdam
sep 15th, 2024, 10.30am – Bruckner Casco Festival
What to expect?
Listen to a new generation of composers! Alexander Jansen, Jurgis Kubilius, Noura Hodhodi en Mehmet İlhan Gazioğlu each take on one of the four movements of Bruckner’s four-part Study Symphony in this order. They’re all going to do it in their own way. It’s extraordinary and exciting to experience how newly minted composers are challenged by a composer they consider quite antique. The SCORE Collective, established specifically for Bruckner Casco from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, will be playing their music! Listen to Jurgis VOXOXO#18 to get a taste of what you will hear.
The symphony: Bruckner Study
Bruckner Study Symphony, his Symphony in F Minor, was written in a rapid pace and within three and a half months. He referred to it as ‘Schularbeit’ and an ‘Aufgabe’ (schoolwork). It was one of the first works that Bruckner did not destroy. His then-teacher Kitzler described it as not particularly inspired. The first complete performance took place posthumously, exactly 100 years ago, in 1924. The work is hardly ever performed, which is exceptionally unfortunate because various passages in the symphony seem to anticipate Bruckner’s later symphonies. Additionally, Bruckner’s inspiration, especially from Schumann and Mendelssohn, is almost immediately evident. The key moments in this symphony? The coda of the first movement, the mournful march in the Andante, the typical Bruckner-like third movement, and the Finale with a coda that Schumann dreamt of. This performance by the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski perhaps does the most justice to Bruckner. For Bruckner Casco, 4 students from the Conservatory of Amsterdam will engage in this dialogue with Bruckner’s Study Symphony.
Alexander Jansen & Part 1
Alexander (2005) began playing piano at four to compose his own music and soon won awards. By age eleven, he was writing piano quintets and later received recognition from the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. His work has been performed on notable stages in the Netherlands and internationally, including the Concertgebouw and Broadway.
‘Out of the Absolute Zero takes the listener on an emotional journey, inspired by Anton Bruckner’s Symphony 00, where the ’00’ symbolizes absolute zero—the state of stillness and despair. The music begins in a somber, frozen reality, comparable to a coma, where all hope seems lost. Gradually, the sounds awaken and break free from this stillness, leading the listener into mystical and beautiful worlds of imagination. Ultimately, the music guides us away from the darkness, towards the light of a new day filled with hope and renewed vitality.'
Jurgis Kubilius & Part 2
Jurgis Kubilius (25) from Lithuania recently won the Lithuanian Vox Juveniles prize with his bacchanal oratorio Voxoxo#18. Jurgis will be focusing on the second movement of the Study Symphony. Engaging with this music in dialogue is a special challenge for Jurgis because he doesn’t necessarily have a strong connection to Bruckner. Jurgis is currently pursuing his master’s degree at the Amsterdam Conservatory.
‘In my piece, I want to bring us all, admiring a 2D name of Bruckner on the Concertgebouw balcony, to a way different, much more realistically emphatical and contrasting perspective to our notion of the composers. How a huge amount of creative output be just an attempt to cure low self-esteem? Does creating out of misery still attract us as an act of genius? Is there something relatable, something more sensitive behind Bruckner’s love for both skulls and Lolitas, despite how repulsive we would see this nowadays? And what would happen if our deepest fantasies and cravings became contented by reincarnating into reality? I hope to raise these questions for the audience by a subjective, yet actual translation of Bruckner’s fantasies & struggles into today’s forms of living.’
Noura Hodhodi & Part 3
Originating from Iran, Noura Hodhodi has a love for Iranian traditional music and poetry, and she began composing at the age of fifteen. In her compositions, she aims to cross-fertilise traditional Iranian music and melodies with contemporary Western styles. Bruckner is also new to her, which she sees as an advantage.
‘For me, only listening to music was not enough. I needed to play a role in music. Music has always helped me understand the world, and the events that happen to me better, that’s why music is necessary for me to understand life! I didn’t want to be only a listener to the pieces people have made. I wanted to create my own music. Music that defines moments of my life and hopefully precious life moments of other people too!
‘It is very interesting that we are now creating pieces based on this symphony, combining Bruckner’s characteristics, the features of the Study Symphony, our own personalities, and the traits of the era we live in, which is completely different from Bruckner’s time! And most importantly, the different perspectives of each composer in this project! I found this project very exciting and also very beneficial for my personal experience, and I am very happy to be participating in this project.’
Mehmet İlhan Gazioğlu & Part 4
Mehmet İlhan Gazioğlu Hailing from Turkey, Mehmet İlhan Gazioğlu is 18 years old and continues his violin studies in Ankara with composition at the Amsterdam Conservatory as of 2023. İlhan aims to develop a fresh, new “sound” that, based on traditional Turkish music as well, can yield a unique, abstract result. İlhan will engage in dialogue with the fourth part of the symphony, a piece he is not yet familiar with, which he finds challenging because it allows him to compose independently of the composition itself.
‘For me composing is reflection of who you really are, very silently but with the strongest impact. It is the most exciting way of diving deep into your imagination within the search of new while we question about how far can we go.
‘As a person who doesn’t feels close to the music of Bruckner at the moment, my aim is searching for new soundscapes and approaches coming from stylistic conflict. While having some rhythmical, melodic motives alongside tiny gestures and details from Finale of his Study Symphony, my main focus is bringing them together, abstract as possible and combined with my own ideas to turn out Bruckner’s unhealthy interest on death into cheerful and spooky fantasy which we can also call as danse macabre.’
The ensemble: Score Collective
Score Collective Score Collective is the ensemble for new music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA). It comprises master students focusing on contemporary music, led by specialists in new music such as Ed Spanjaard, Jurjen Hempel, and Cora Burggraaf. The artistic coordination is managed by Arnold Marinissen and Michael Langemann. While the core of the ensemble consists of master students, bachelor students with a passion for new music are also involved. This setup provides a permanent platform at CvA for working on and performing new music. Importantly, collaboration with the composition department is emphasized; each project includes works by composition students.
Read more on brucknercasco.nl
The concert:
