The Amstel Quartet and Geerten van Wetering perform works by The Hague composers Maxim Shalygin and Aftab Darvishi on the annual Dag van de Componist (Composer’s Day).

With Songlessness by Maxim Shalygin you temporarily enter a ‘different world’. A world that is expressed by the special combination of organ by Geerten van de Wetering and the four saxophones of the Amstel Quartet. In Songlessness, Shalygin investigates our perception of time, which can be changed in surprising ways by music. He seems to be able to slow down time by using fast music, and seems to speed it up with slow music. Inspired by Wagner’s ‘Unendliche Melodie’, Shalygin plays with the listener’s inner clock.

“Music is the art form that is most intimately connected to time, because its essence lies in movement. Perhaps that is why music has always been considered a precipitate of esoteric knowledge that contains the key to the deepest mystery of humanity”, says Shalygin about Songlessness. 

Hidden Dreams by Aftab Darvishi is on the program as well. Aftab Darvishi’s music has a beautiful narrative quality and in Hidden Dreams she evokes a heavenly atmosphere by letting dreamy melodies float through the different voices.

Program:

Aftab Darvishi – Hidden Dreams
Maxim Shalygin – Songlessness