Tapas concert with Pieter Wispelwey

Ciconia Consort conducted by Dick van Gasteren
Pieter Wispelwey, cello

Concerts

Friday, February 17, 2023 – 8:15 PM
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
LATEST CARDS

Saturday, February 18, 2023 – 8:15 PM
New Church, The Hague
extras: dinner Pavlov + €24
OUT OF STOCK

Sunday, March 19, 2023 – 3:00 PM
Willem Two Toonzaal, Den Bosch
OUT OF STOCK

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 – 8:00 PM Recording Concertzender
TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
CARDS

Friday, March 24, 2023 – 8:00 PM
Theater Hanzehof, Zutphen
15.30-17.30 Cello masterclass by Pieter Wispelwey (entrance to the masterclass is free with a ticket for the evening concert)
CARDS

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – 8:15 PM
Theater De Vest, Alkmaar 
CARDS

Program

LUIGI BOCCHERINI (1743-1805) – La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, opus 30 no. 6
JOAQUÍN TURINA (1882 – 1949) – La oración del torero
AULIS SALLINEN (1935) – Nocturnal Dances of Don Juan Quixote for cello and string orchestra
MAURICE RAVEL (1875 – 1937) – Quartet in F (arrangement Rudolph Barshai)
ARTURO MÁRQUEZ (1950) – Danzon no. 2

During Spanish Nights, the concert hall is transformed into a Spanish Tapas bar. While enjoying a tapas snack, you will become acquainted with a tableau of gems from three centuries of Spanish music culture. A thoroughly Spanish program, with only one composer from the Iberian Peninsula, Joaquín Turina. Spanish folklore with exciting rhythms, castanets and flamenco dance has inspired composers from all over the world for centuries, so that many exported Spanish sounds from Europe and Latin America are also included.

The Italian composer Luigi Boccherini spent much of his life working in Spain, in the service of Don Luis Anton, the brother of King Charles III. During Don Luis Anton’s exile in Avila, far from cosmopolitan Madrid, Boccherini wrote his mysterious string quintet La musica notturna . The work is about nightly, bustling Madrid as a nostalgic reminder of his life in the capital. Boccherini instructed his publisher not to publish the work because, he wrote, “the public could never grasp its meaning, nor the performers could play it as they should.” What did Boccherini mean by this cryptic description?

It is hardly possible to be more Spanish than La Manche, the land of Don Quixote. The area where the scattered knight Don Quixote went to war against evil in the 17th century and went in search of his beloved Dulcinea. Finnish composer Sallinen wrote the extroverted, compelling and humorous Nocturnal Dances of Don Juan Quixote . The work seems to be perfect for master cellist Pieter Wispelwey.

A great composer of Spanish folklore is the Frenchman Maurice Ravel, who composed famous Spanish works such as the Bolero and the Rapsodie Espagnole . Ravel is clearly inspired by his Basque mother, who spent her childhood in Madrid. Ciconia Consort presents his exotic Impressionist String Quartet in F in a sublime orchestration by Rudolf Barshai.
Finally, Ciconia transports you to the temperament and melancholy of the South American continent with Danzón No. 2 by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.

Peter Wispelwey
Cellist Pieter Wispelwey studied cello with Anner Bijlsma, followed by lessons from Paul Katz in the United States and William Pleeth in Great Britain. In 1992 he was awarded the Dutch Music Prize.
His debut CD in 1990 with Bach’s Cello Suites was critically acclaimed. New CD recordings followed with music by Britten, Beethoven, Brahms, Kodály. His impressive discography now includes more than 20 albums, including the cello concerto by Walton (Sydney Symphony Orchestra), Prokofiev’s Symphonie Concertante (Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra), Britten’s Cello Symphony (Flanders Symphony Orchestra) and unique works by Schubert for cello and piano ( Fantasy , Grand Duo and Arpeggione Sonata ) on period instruments.

Pieter Wispelwey feels equally at home on the modern cello as he does on the baroque cello, although playing on gut strings requires a different technique than on steel strings. His stylistic awareness, original interpretations, phenomenal technical mastery and the will to perform and record everything make him a leading cellist.

Wispelwey’s career spans five continents and he has played as a soloist with leading orchestras; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig.
He regularly gives chamber music performances all over the world, such as in London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Los Angeles and New York. He was previously a soloist with the Ciconia Consort with Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne .
Pieter plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello from 1760 and a Rombouts baroque cello from 1710.

“Cello playing of incomparable technical and musical accomplishment” – The Sunday Times “Wispelwey’s playing is at once supremely lyrical and furiously intense” – The Guardian
“Wispelwey is one of the deepest of contemporary cellists” – American Record Guide          
“Deeply communicative and highly individual performances” – New York Times
“An outstanding cellist and a really wonderful musician” – Gramophone