Dudok Quartet plays ‘What Remains’ by Joey Roukens in their festival Dudok Muziekdagen in Kampen. 

n this program, Marleen Wester explores the meaning of flow: a state of complete surrender, where time fades and concentration turns into ecstasy. Music is the preeminent art form to evoke such an experience — for both performers and listeners. For centuries, composers have sought forms that can induce a trance in the audience. The chaconne and the passacaglia, with their repeating basslines, create a hypnotic movement. In the twentieth century, this desire for self-forgetfulness found a new expression in minimal music. Music unfolds in time while simultaneously playing with time. Schubert’s melodies seem to briefly pause the earthly clock: they uplift, carry away, and leave the listener transformed. In the slow movement of his Octet, such a moment of stillness unfolds. In contrast stands the driving energy of the allegro vivace, in which rhythm and movement acquire an almost physical force. An early experience with Biber’s Passacaglia made the power of flow tangible: what initially enchanted in an elusive way became internalized through study and deepening — until the moment the music seemed to play itself. Purcell also utilizes the passacaglia technique in Dido’s Lament, where a descending bassline creates an inescapable emotional undercurrent. In Joey Roukens’ What Remains, the concept of flow reaches a contemporary intensity. Pulsing patterns, post-minimalist energy, and slowly merging harmonies build up to a manic propulsion, after which the second movement settles into contemplation and echoes of ancient polyphony. The work, written for the Dudok Quartet, balances between memory and movement, between what remains and what flows. After the storm comes reflection. Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs sounds like a moment of inner reflection: a breath between desire and surrender. Flow is movement and stillness combined: a musical stream in which time dissolves and focus deepens.

Program:

• H. von Biber – Rosary Sonatas: Passacaglia in G minor
• F. Schubert – Octet in F major, D. 803: II. Adagio / III. Allegro vivace
• H. Purcell – Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626: “When I am laid in earth” (Dido’s Lament)
• J. Roukens – String Quartet No. 4 ‘What Remains’: I. Strange oscillations / II. Motectum
• J. Massenet – Méditation from Thaïs (arr. Max Knigge)
• Ellen ten Damme – Alles draait [Everything Revolves] (arr. Konrad Koselleck)