Masato Suzuki (1981) is an exceptionally talented Japanese organist, harpsichordist, pianist, composer, and conductor. He specialises in both early and contemporary music and has been giving numerous concerts at home and abroad for many years. During this concert, Masato Suzuki will perform both old and new music on the Fokker organ, in meantone tuning and in the 31-tone tuning, which was first described in 1691 by the famous Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens. Especially for this programme and for Masato Suzuki, the young composer Brendan Faegre has written a new work for Fokker organ entitled Novel Forces, in which he breathes new life into the tonal structures of the late Baroque through microtones.
In addition to a work by Sweelinck, the programme includes music by three Spanish composers, primarily from the early 17th century, of whom Francisco Correa de Arauxo is the most prominent, as he reflects the transition from the Spanish Renaissance to the Baroque. He was considered a revolutionary, despite the fact that only a single work from 1626 has survived, a portion of which will be performed this morning. Cabanilles Barberà is regarded as the most famous Valencian composer of the 17th century. The tiento written by these composers is a typically Spanish form combining elements of the Ricercare and the Toccata. Further on the programme is Tonal Round V by Leo de Vries, who will celebrate his 90th birthday this year.
Suzuki plays the Fokker organ
Programme
Adriaan Fokker (1887-1972) – Preludium Chromaticum
Masato Suzuki (1981) – Improvisation 1
Francisco Corea de Arauxo (1584-1654) – Tiento de medio registro de tiple de segundo tono
Leo de Vries (1924) – Tonal Round V
Masato Suzuki – Improvisation 2
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) – Fantasia à 4 Echo
Brendan Faegre (1985) – Novel Forces (2013) premiere
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) – Spiral Canon van BWV 1079
Pablo Bruna (1611-1679) – Tiento de medio registro de primo tono
Masato Suzuki – Improvisation 3
Juan Baptista Cabanilles (1644-1712) – Tiento de sesto tono
Brendan Faegre over Novel Forces
Novel Forces is a work for the 31-tone microtonal Fokker organ, housed in the small hall of the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. It attempts to breath contemporary life into the tonal structures of the late Baroque period through the new chords and scales available in the Fokker organ’s unique temperament. It takes a particularly resonant chord from the harmonic series as a fresh “major chord” and then uses this chord within the hierarchies and gravitational forces of traditional tonality.
Harmony provides the momentum behind the work, while various grooves and textures are used to explore this new tonal space. Whatever your chosen analogy may be for the experience of the piece as a whole—physical tension and release, an archetypal story, sex, evolution, departure and homecoming—enjoy the journey.
[For those interested in the gritty tuning details, this tonality was formed by taking 31-TET approximations of harmonics 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 as the basic sonority, adding its transposition up and down a perfect fifth to create a master scale, and modulating this scale to various transpositions based on common-tones. In addition to the “major” mode of the scale in which the piece begins, a minor mode is also established, as another analogy to the late Baroque tonal system.]
Support
This programme was made possible with the support of: SNS REAAL Fonds – renamed Fonds 21 (renovation Fokker organ), Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (renovation Fokker organ and support Fokker organ concerts), Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ and Huygens-Fokker Foundation.
Fokker organ concert
Sunday 12 January 2014, 11:00 a.m.
Admission €16.00 (€13.00/€11.00 reduced prices)
Small Hall, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ
Piet Heinkade 1, 1019 BR Amsterdam
Performers
Masato Suzuki, Fokker organ
