Famous organ composers such as J.S. Bach and G. Frescobaldi were familiar with harmonies in meantone tuning, sounds that today are often perceived as unusual. Early twentieth-century composers like Béla Bartók and Hugo Distler—a major figure in the German organ repertoire—are performed in meantone tuning during this concert by Laurens de Man. The compositions of physicist Adriaan Fokker, the creator of the Fokker organ (1950), are heard in the 31-tone system. Physicist and composer Fokker developed his organ in the 1940s, and since 2009 it has been housed in the Muziekgebouw. Laurens de Man, not yet thirty, is already a significant figure in the organ world. On the extraordinary Fokker organ, he presents this evening a programme of both old and new repertoire. The Fokker organ is a 31-tone instrument: the octave is divided not into twelve, but into as many as thirty-one steps. Inventor Adriaan Fokker and composer Henk Badings wrote microtonal music specifically for this organ—a revelation for the ears. Other works have been transcribed by De Man, with surprisingly harmonious effects.
Online concert!