Dwars door Amerika

Before lunchtime, Ralph van Raat is making a musical voyage across the American musical landscape: from Los Angeles to New York, from the old ragtime melodies to the very newest contemporary sounds. Particularly satisfying are the many little side streets that Van Raat takes that allow you to hear the awe-inspiring richness of American piano music. Contrast is guaranteed in this cleverly assembled potpourri. Play and seriousness, concrete and abstract, accessible and stubborn, old-fashioned and progressive: you’ll hear it all. You choose, you lose; and if you don’t choose, hopefully you’ll lose yourself.

A festival of American music would fall short of its goals if it didn’t include at least one really long minimalist masterpiece on the programme. Feldman’s For Philip Guston is just that. It expands for hours, until you as a listener can no longer tell the difference between light and darkness, north and south, silence and sound, ebb and high tide. Yet minimalism is much more than a trip to the indefinite. When virtually the same material gets repeated over and over, the smallest difference can take on enormous significance. Thus every new note has maximum impact; that too is minimalism. If you feel called, do come early: there are a few very comfortable lounge chairs waiting for you, so that you can join the musicians in doing away with time.

> 11:30-12:45 American Omnibus

> 14:30-18:40 Minimal Sunday

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