The Treasure Hunt with Bas Wiegers

In this second of two episodes about De Materie (Matter) by Louis Andriessen, fellow composer David Dramm reflects on his close relationship with Andriessen and the creation of De Materie. He describes witnessing the piece’s early development, studying with Andriessen, and experiencing the premiere of De Materie in 1989 up close. Together with host Bas Wiegers, he explores the work’s signature elements - its hammer-like opening chords, mystical second movement, playful boogie-woogie references, and slowly unfolding climaxes - showing how Andriessen combined rigorous structure with raw energy, beauty, and humor.

Music: 
Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8

In the first of two episodes on De Materie, we explore Louis Andriessen’s groundbreaking masterpiece with biographer Jacqueline Oskamp. We trace the influences behind this pivotal work - from the pressure of Andriessen’s earlier successes to the political and musical ideals that shaped his 1980s style. The episode highlights the piece’s structure, its bold musical logic, and the key collaborations with Jan van Vlijmen and Robert Wilson that helped form its distinctive character. We end with a preview of Episode Two, featuring a former student offering his own view on Andriessen and his legacy.

Music: 
Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8

Conductor Bas Wiegers interviews composer Márton Illés after two intense days recording Illes' new cello concerto with Nicolas Altstaedt and the Münchener Kammerorchester at the Bayerische Rundfunk. 

They discuss finding a personal compositional language, balancing freedom and structure, the physical and acoustic reality of sound, use of electronics, and how collaboration and selflessness shape complex contemporary music in rehearsal and recording.

The music played in the episode can be found here: 

Márton Illés - Violinkonzert (2019) 
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Michael Wendeberg 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzsGf8NebOg

Márton Illés - Ljubljana24 (2018–20/24) 
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Enno Poppe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1GbmfvlzKI&list=RDN1GbmfvlzKI&start_radio=1

I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time. 

 

Links to the pieces: 

 

Charles Ives: Country Band March 

President's Own United States Marine Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avowzDI8uR0

 

Charles Ives (orch. T. Grahl, 2021): Walt Whitman - (1921) from 114 Songs Klangforum Wien, Thomas Hampson, Bas Wiegers 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnO8dJJPYs

 

Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony 

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Bas Wiegers, Ralph van Raat

Private recording 

 

Charles Ives: March No. 6 for Piano, with Here's to Good Old Yale

Charles Ives, piano 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMW0r_ZxFm8&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=41

 

Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 1. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbutHpwEh8

 

Charles Ives: They Are There!, second take

Charles Ives, piano 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0iNeRvNts&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=39

 

Charles Ives: Four Transcriptions from Emerson: No. 1 (beg.)

Charles Ives, piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8lNFR5xWw&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=1

 

Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Ytm0l0FTU

 

Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question 

Ricciotti Ensemble, Leonard van Goudoever

Private Recording

Today I'm spending some time with the 93 year old Theo Loevendie, one of the first living composers I worked with as a student. I'm coming back to his music after 25 years, to prepare two concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. We speak about his youth, his influences, and about the two works I'm preparing: Flexio for orchestra and Six Turkish Folk Poems for singer and orchestra.

 

Here's info about the music you hear: 

 

Draaiorgel Sarie Marais - Appeltjes van Oranje  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOlWzqXXnY

 

Glenn Miller - American Patrol 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAVejLjXVdw

 

Umm Kulthum - 1967, Live at the Olympia, Paris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGHpBOt5sE

 

Theo Loevendie - Six Turkish Folk Poems  

Dorothy Dorow, soprano 

Residentie Orkest 

Ernest Bour, conductor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4090D14hs

 

Theo Loevendie - Flexio 

Residentie Orkest 

Peter Eötvös, conductor 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxMTfeEbFQ&t=412s

 

Theo Loevendie - Venus and Adonis 

Insomnio:  

Carlos Galvez, bass clarinet 

Bas Wiegers, violin 

Martine Sikkenk, mandolin 

Reinhold Westerheide, guitar 

Ulrich Pöhl, percussion 

(private recording) 

 

Photo Loevendie: Teo Krijgsman