A week full of music and Brahms

Thinking back, this has been a week filled with music, and with music composed by Brahms! I am not a fan of Brahms, so it struck me that the three concerts I attended this week all had Brahms programmed. And each Brahms was different: Brahms with a full orchestra, and variations on Brahms with a tenor as soloist, Brahms for piano and Brahms performed by a string sextet, all at different venues and in different towns and concert halls.

The first concert took place last Thursday in the “Concertgebouw” in Amsterdam with the famous Concertgebouw orchestra. I had booked tickets because Fauré’s Requiem was on the programme. I love that Requiem and find it very emotional for personal reasons. I had sung it as well, but that is different from hearing a live performance by a fantastic orchestra, and a semi-professional choir in a splendid concert hall. Sitting on the so called “podium”, more or less next to the orchestra, was an extra bonus. It is fascinating to see how a conductor conveys his instructions not just by means of his hands, but by subtle facial expressions, lost on the audience in the main hall. Besides, I could also see the organist, and by now most people will know I love pipe organs. The organ in the Concertgebouw isn’t often used, so it is great to hear it.

Before the interval Brahms was on the programme: The tragic Overture Opus 81. This was followed by Glanert's Four Preludes and Serious Songs, after Brahms, sung by the baritone, Russell Braun. So this was half Brahms, half Glanert who is a modern composer. For me the Requiem was the highlight of the concert.

On Saturday evening I went to “Steeckershil”, the privately owned concert hall in the converted loft of an old farmhouse. Here I listened to a piano recital by Leonard van Lier, who played Schubert, Chopin, Ravel and Debussy. But also two interesting pieces by Brahms which I enjoyed, Capriccio opus 76 nr. 2 in b and Intermezzo opus 118 nr. 2 in A. It is a real joy to go to concerts in this former farmhouse because of the atmosphere, the entourage, and not least of all because of the warm welcome and hospitality of the couple living here, and of the other organisers of the concerts. Before and after the recital and in the interval there are drinks, sweet and savoury snacks buffet style, and there is ample opportunity to socialise with the musician(s) enjoying a glass of wine and very nice food, all lovingly prepared.  

Last night I had tickets for a concert in Delft, organised by the NMF, het “Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds”(the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation), which is a charity lending musical instruments to promising musicians who haven’t got the money to buy a good instrument. Once a year they organise presentation concerts for the friends of the foundation. Musicians benefitting from the foundation perform and explain why they are happy with their instruments given on loan, when an instrument was built and who the builder was. Usually the NMF tries to organise the concerts in historic buildings which are normally not open to the public, buildings which have the status of monument or are perhaps privately owned. This time it was in the Prinsenhof in Delft, once a nunnery, later the home of William of Orange of the Netherlands who was murdered here. The chapel is now used by the Eglise Wallone, and the Prinsenhof a very interesting Museum worth visiting, as is all of Delft. The programme was varied, and the combination of musicians changed every time. They were all string players, with one exception: a cellist playing a “singing saw”!!! It was a surprise at the end of the concert. The “saw” was no longer a real saw, but a piece of metal without teeth which looked like a saw blade. Annette Scholten played El cant dels ocells(1939) by Pablo Casals. It was absolutely amazing. One could hear the birds sing! A surprising end to a lovely concert, played by young, enthusiastic and gifted musicians.

There was another surprise before the interval, a piece for violin and a narrator. A young boy told the story while the violin illustrated it. Or perhaps it was the other way round. The boy had won a contest for the best young reader in Holland, and indeed he did very well. It was a fairy tale by Alan Ridout, for violin and voice, called Ferdinand the Bull (1971), the story of a Spanish bull who did not like fighting. Hilarious and very funny, not in the least by the clever way it was told and played.

But I haven’t mentioned yet that the first piece after the interval was a string sextet by Brahms, nr. 2 in G, opus 36. I may be converted to appreciating Brahms more after three doses of Brahms within a week! 

The "Prinsenhof" and the chapel, now the "Eglise Wallone" seen through the transparent walls of the covered courtyard. 

The concert took place on the day my father was born, way back in 1912, and it has always been a special day for me. This was a perfect way to remember him. He would have loved the concert and especially the building.

The concert hall is Delft is very unusual. It is in fact a former courtyard between the Prinsenhof and the Chapel. This courtyard has been covered by a transparent roof supported by metal posts. Through this construction the floodlit walls of the Chapel are visible. The tower of the “Oude Kerk” forms another backdrop. It is an ingenious construction and looks fabulous at night. Unfortunately my camera did react strangely to the floodlight and so the walls of the chapel seem yellow in that light. In fact for me they had the same brick colour they have in day light.

The covered courtyard seen from the chapel and towards the chapel

 The stage lights were a fluorescent blue!

 The musicians, and below a better view of the "singing saw"

 The tower of the "Oude Kerk" in Delft

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo's. I only had a simple pocket camera.

Leyden, October 3rd

October the third is a very big festival in Leyden. As during Carnival in the south of the Netherlands, shops are closed, the town is converted into a big fairground, traffic has no access at all to the town for a week. To give it a semblance of a real commemoration, of happiness and thankfulness because of the liberation from the Spaniards in 1574, there is a church service as well. This is one of the most stylish parts of the festivities. It is attended by VIPs, a well-known person, a politician or a former chaplain, may be the speaker, the Military Band will play inside the church, there will be a choir, and newly composed songs about Leyden as a fantastic city will be sung. It is one of the few parts of the celebrations where town and university, which were always strictly separated, join forces. 

 The harbour for historic ships, the "Galgewater"

When I was a first year student, the lectures would start after October 3^rd and we were strictly forbidden to stay in town and join in the festivities on penalty of being thrown into one of the canals if we did. So we avoided town that first year and of course didn’t realise that meanwhile the older students were making merry! It was a feast for the local population, mainly labourers, who saved money the entire year to spend it all during the three days of October 3^rd. They spend it on booze, food and the fairground. I don’t know how many years this church service has been part of the festivities. I did not attend one till late in life, when I was no longer working fulltime, and never as a student. The first time I attended it was a modest affair, the church not packed at all. After the service the guests of honour, the choirmaster and locals politicians will be invited to share a meal of “Leyden stew”, a variety of Irish stew, made of meat, unions, carrots and potatoes. It is said that such a stew still hanging over a fire was found by a boy when the Spaniards had hastily fled their positions around the city walls of Leyden, defeated by the inundated fields.

The Old Rhine, almost black and white in the early morning mist

For three full days Leyden will smell of the stew, and anybody who fancies it can share a communal, al fresco meal on long tables after acquiring a ticket.

Very early in the morning at the Weigh house herring and white bread are distributed among the local inhabitants who form very long queues awaiting their turn.

In the afternoon there is a pageant of floats crawling through Leyden. Each year there is another theme. It might be historical, or something to do with the town itself, or perhaps environmental problems or solutions. As students we would hang out of the window of one of our friends digs who was so lucky as to live in a street where the parade would pass, drinking coffee and eating cakes. Or perhaps even cheap wine out of cartons, the so called Chateau Migraine, which we wouldn’t easily forget the next day! I only remember that the floats seemed to be made of cheap carton and were rather rickety and very amateurish, as if put together by adult nursery school pupils. Also there were many big gaps between the floats and the brass bands, so it all took a lot of time. We couldn’t cycle back “mid-parade” to our own digs as the roads would be closed off, even for bicycles. I haven’t seen the floats since. They might be more professional now. But it is far too crowded, which I do not like.

 The "Rapenburg" and the tower of the Academy, the main building of the University of Leyden, in the distance

Early in the morning I walked to the big “Pieterskerk”. Leyden looked mysterious and fresh in the morning mist, the mist of autumn promising a warm and sunny day. It was still very quiet, people probably taking it easy after a night of drinking and feasting, a night with fireworks and the expensive and scary attractions of the fair ground. It was Leyden at its best. The many booths and stalls selling a variety of food and merchandise were not open yet. It was bliss.  

 Well known buildings on the Rapenburg

The church was absolutely packed, with even people standing or sitting on the stone floor. The military brass band played beautifully and the “sermon” was to the point and very appropriate in this time of war and the influx of all those refugees, fleeing their war torn countries and trying to find safety and happiness for themselves and their children.

 Al fresco cafe on a bridge, and the big mill plus the temporary ferris wheel

After the service, I had a coffee in the centre of town and was amazed at how filthy the town was. I had to wade through a carpet of plastic rubbish, plastic glasses, bottles, tins, wrappers and cartons of French fries etc. At the Weighing House where the herring and bread had been distributed they were trying to brush the slippery innards of the herrings into the canal. It was a rather slimy and smelly place! The stalls lining the streets were now open and the fairground in full swing. Buggies, children, balloon sellers, ice cream vendors, they were all there in droves. The variety of food was mind boggling: fried and smoked fish, smoked eel on white buns, burgers, ice cream, spun sugar, sweets, French fries, cakes, the stalls interspersed with booths selling handbags, smartphone covers, sunglasses, soft toys and much more superfluous merchandise. I escaped to my own blissfully quiet and sunny back garden

 Too many people!

Too much rubbish!

 Nice plant containers?

High over Leyden Station

A Late September Surprise

The last day of September and a glorious day after a month of rain and miserable weather. Besides, a blank page in my diary, which is quite unusual. So I put on my walking shoes and headed for ‘s Graveland, a place I have heard of but never been to. In fact it is a long and thin ribbon village, forming the boundary between the sandy ridge east and the lakes west. The lakes are the result of peat digging, and the western part of Holland has many such lakes. We are a strange country, we dig holes in our soil which fill with water and so we create new lakes. On the other hand, we reclaim land from the sea and from other lakes. The lakes which are the result of peat digging, are shallow. But we also dig deep holes to get sand for building roads and new housing projects. They are later made into recreational lakes but usually not big enough for sailing. Our country, or at least the western half, changes over the years and decades, taking a different shape each time. A slow time lapse film would be interesting: lakes disappearing and appearing.

 Some of the mansions or big houses

Ponds, fields and tower rooms

Anyway, on the long sandy stretch of land I was talking about, rich merchants from Amsterdam built summer houses for themselves in the eighteenth century, which they liked so much that they started to live there permanently. The mansions they built are large for Dutch standards, sometimes moated, and were surrounded by landscaped gardens, ornamental and rose gardens. They cultivated the land, planted woods, interspersed with fields for cattle and sheep, dug ponds and streams.

Happy cows

Some of those mansions today are still privately owned and lived in. Others now belong to a charity one could compare with the National Trust in England. Most of the gardens and the fields and woods are now free for everyone to walk in. There are some 10 mansions with their surrounding lands and parks owned by this charity in this small stretch of the country alone.

 Nature takes over. 

Below, trees grow through the former steps of Bantam, one of the big houses now broken down.

Walking those estates and parklands had been on the bucket list for a long time. Yesterday was the perfect day for it: bright sunshine, a cloudless sky, not too hot though and a weekday, so apart from retired people it wasn’t busy at all. Walks are marked, which makes it easy. Alas, no autumn colours yet, but the low light was beautiful. I did not start till just after midday, as it is a one and a half hour drive to get there. With many breaks to take pictures, plus a stop for a drink, I could not complete the longest circular walk but had to cut it short and managed some 14 kilometres.

Above:A gate house of one of the estates.

Below: just some labourer's cottage

 A real Dutch Barn next to a farm (below) on one of the estates

Shadowy beech lined lanes 

 Clear water and muddy water

Although a busy part of Holland, it was Holland at its best: sundrenched meadows with contented cows, sheep among the heather, many driveways to the mansions lined with mature and tall beech trees which will look amazing in a month’s time, ponds reflecting the imposing houses. The stark contrast of shadow and light made it difficult to take photos.

 Autumn has arrived!

When I drove back one of the mansions which is almost a castle looked absolutely stunning bathed in the coppery light of the low standing evening sun. I could not resist the temptation and stopped to take some photos. That same beautiful sun, a huge bright orange ball at the end of the straight road west, almost blinded me completely when I drove home.

 Trompenburgh