During this atmospheric concert, regular Fokker organist Ere Lievonen embarks on a musical adventure with Lenneke van Staalen (Indian violin) and Heiko Dijker (tabla). Both are among the foremost performers of Indian music, highly regarded even in India itself. After intensive studies with leading masters in India, they each graduated with top marks from their master’s programmes at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Worldwide, they are praised for their fiery virtuosity and emotional depth.
Indian classical music is performed in harmony with the time of day. This is reflected in the choice of notes, the mood, and the tempo of the largely improvised music. On this Sunday morning, the concert begins with a classical North Indian morning raga for tabla (double drum) and violin. ‘Raga’ comes from the Sanskrit word for ‘colour,’ which in music translates as ‘that which colours the mind.’
Next, Ere Lievonen performs three captivating movements from Ludus Ragalis by Clarence Barlow on the Fokker organ. These are short preludes and fugues based on scales and themes drawn from various Hindustani ragas.
From the well-known Dutch composer Jacob ter Veldhuis (JacobTV) comes Serendipity. The title means a ‘happy accident’ or ‘pleasant surprise’ and is derived from ‘Serendip,’ an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The piece is an ingenious blend of notated music and improvisation, giving the musicians considerable freedom.
The programme also features a work by Claude Debussy, performed on violin and Fokker organ. The French composer was interested in music from Asia; in May 1913, he spent an evening with a veena player (a plucked lute) and mystic Inayat Khan.
The Indian raga Hindoli and Indonesian court music converge in the slow, almost timeless composition Royal Hindoli by Dutch composer Sinta Wullur, which culminates in a fast, Chopin-like improvisation. Wullur specialises in bridging Eastern and Western musical cultures and studied Indian singing for many years to integrate raga and tala (rhythmic cycles of a set number of beats) into her compositions.
This is followed by a tabla improvisation by Heiko Dijker in the poetically mathematical Tablataal, in a 5¼ beat cycle. The Fokker organ plays a repeating melody to mark the cycle.
Afterwards, Ere Lievonen and Lenneke van Staalen perform an improvisation based on Across the Lake of the Ancient World by American minimalist Terry Riley, from his masterful album Shri Camel.
The concert concludes with an exhilarating trio improvisation under the playful title Huygens-Fokker goes India, in which the three musicians merge North Indian musical traditions with Western avant-garde sounds.
In short, a concert not to be missed!