Organist Laurens de Man brings a forgotten world to life in a remarkable way. Whereas last season he combined music by 20th-century Dutch composers with their Renaissance models, he now champions the Dutch composer Henk Badings and his contemporaries. In addition to works for the Fokker organ by Badings himself—who undoubtedly made the greatest and most important 20th-century contribution to Dutch 31-tone music—the programme features organ and piano works by Dutch composers such as Willem Pijper, Hendrik Andriessen, Jan Koetsier, and Rudolf Escher.

But how do the works of these composers, who wrote music at a time when the first fixed repertoire for the Fokker organ was emerging, actually sound today? Together with the outstanding oboist Inge Ariesen, multiple award-winner Laurens de Man sketches during this concert a picture of the stylistic differences and similarities between the tone poets who were musically active around the mid-20th century. All the music during this morning’s concert will be performed in meantone tuning, a system common in the Renaissance. This fact alone makes the concert special.

Laurens de Man, the young principal organist of the Janskerk in Utrecht, made his Fokker organ debut at the Muziekgebouw early last year. He is particularly enchanted by the instrument’s ability to play in meantone tuning. The beautifully pure intervals not only enhance the works of Henk Badings but also provide a distinctive and refreshing encounter with the music of Dutch composers from around the mid-20th century.