“When measured by copyright income, Mathilde Wantenaar is the Netherlands’ most successful composer. This resulted last December in the Buma Classical Award. And with two new pieces within a week, the thirty-year-old is on track for the next. First, Wantenaar’s new orchestral work Ballade premiered in Utrecht and Thursday Amsterdam got acquainted with the Concerto for accordion and orchestra, that premiered in Vienna last December.
Success all-round, but the concerto conjures up the question why. That does not include the choice of solo-instrument. The days that it was considered a common windbox by the classical music world have long gone. If only because Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina wrote such amazing notes for the instrument. Wantenaar’s father plays accordion, that too sounds promising. And who would say no to the fingers of Vincent van Amsterdam, a hero on the accordion.
The piece has a strong start in the Amsterdam Muziekgebouw. Four soft, dissonant accordion tones slowly crescendo. Without being able to detect exactly when, the string section of the Residentie Orkest joins in the sound. Climax, short silence, after which the orchestra lands with a long, descending scale. Nice, the reference to Mein junges Leben hat ein End, the organ-hit by the old Jan Pieterszoon Sweeling.
That Wantenaar has a lot to offer is also apparent from a sad, two-part melody. Wantenaar envelopes it in a melting, 19th-century string sound. After a happy country dance, she transfers the whole setting in the blink of an eye to Paris. Bal-musette!
In the meantime, the ‘why-question’ becomes more pertinent. To compose lively music is one thing, but not to overdo it is another. And again, the accordion dances happily, and again conductor Anja Bihlmaier and the orchestra reap cheerful notes. To add to the fun there is even a Piazzolla-pastiche. Luckily this forms the introduction to surprising moments.
Van Amsterdam rattles the keys: no sound. He pushes false air from the bellows and embarks on a solo with intense, coarse sounds. For a moment the accordion turns into the beast that it can also be. A wounded beast that moans, shudders and cries. When it utters its final breath, the orchestra plays one last echo of Sweelink. Mein junes Leben hat ein End. Finished.
To be fair, there is nothing Mathilde Wantenaar can’t do. She has a sense of style and of shape and has mastered writing for orchestra to the finest detail. But it is baffling that the concerto is built on so little musical material. With too many predictable minutes the music loses its sheen. Music doesn’t have to be ‘difficult’ and can be pleasant. But beware of boredom in the concert hall.”
Guido van Oorschot, De Volkskrant, 18 March 2024.
Phote Festival Dag in de Branding | Photographer Wouter Vellekoop