What does the faun do in the afternoon? He plays the flute! And in such a dreamy and colourful way that you would never have expected the shaggy hybrid of human and billy goat. He owes this image correction to Claude Debussy – and the flautists one of their most beautiful orchestral solos.

The pianistic brilliance and perfect interplay of our former Artists in Residence Lucas and Arthur Jussen impressed Joey Roukens so much that he began to write a double concerto for the brothers, ‘in which the two soloists sound not so much as two separate soloists, but as one super pianist on one super grand piano, so to speak. This means that there are many unison passages: Both pianos play exactly the same notes. In any case, the unison is an element that appears frequently in my work, perhaps a legacy of the ‘Dutch musical tradition’.’ According to the Amsterdam-based composer, he was also influenced by Italian baroque toccatas.

The brilliantly orchestrated Concerto for Orchestra from 1943, in whose five movements Bela Bartók combines Western musical tradition with Hungarian folk music, completes a varied concert evening as the main work, which takes the Konzerthausorchester under the direction of Joana Mallwitz from Impressionism through classical modernism to the 21st century.

Program

Claude Debussy – Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Joey Roukens – In Unison – Concert for two pianos and orchestra 

Béla Bartók – Konzert für Orchester Sz 116