The Enchanted Desert, for organ, flute and percussion and including dance and performance, was premiered on June 30th, 2016 to celebrate the Schnitger Dream Prize awarded to Willem Tanke in 2015.
The Enchanted Desert has a strong message, namely that creativity, spiritual force and imagination can transform negative energy into positive energy. This is represented by the metaphor of a barren desert turning into a flowering desert. Associative relations between sounds, images and titles of pieces replace a logical storyline. They leave impressions which may be different for everyone in the audience, but have a similar basic pattern or "blueprint" in the subconscious mind. Consequently, The Enchanted Desert has an archetypal quality that surpasses differences in cultural background, race and religion. The duration is about 60 minutes.
The following video shows fragments of the first performance, with Eliana Stragapede, dance; Martijn Alsters, flute; René van Commenée, performance and percussion; Friso van Wijck, percussion, and Willem Tanke, organ. Rick Kaijser made the choreography.
Photo by Guy Tal
programme notes by the composer
Part One
1. Intro consists of sparse, percussive sounds, produced by a wandering, enigmatic figure.
2. Stillness is originally a composition for organ solo, written in 1996. It expresses the emptiness of a desert; an emptiness that is nevertheless full of concentration. In January 2017, I had a vision that referred to my ancestors who during many centuries were labourers in the fields or peasants with a small piece of ground in Twente, a region in the east of Holland, bordering Germany:
Springtime. At the end of a hard day’s work a farm worker is resting a while before going home. He is leaning against a tree, his face in the late afternoon sun and his thoughts nowhere. Suddenly and for a very short time he sees Eternity. Some years later it happens again and after that never more. But the longing for it encourages him during the rest of his life and strengthens him at the hour of death.
3. Listening to the fairies was written in 2003, also for organ solo. The mood is light, easy-going and cheerful, a quality which is almost impossible to find in contemporary classical music. The improvising flautist strengthens the feeling of joy.
Video Listening to the fairies (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
4. Wild Energy is the last movement of Five Dances for organ, composed in 1997. It depicts forces of nature, such as a may be found in a thunder storm.
Video Wild Energy (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
5. Terra Ferma is a composition for alto flute by Martijn Alsters. The high sound of a bowed cymbal suggests sizzling air on a hot day. The air vibrates above the solid ground, accompanied by strange sounds of the organ that increase the concentration.
Video Terra Ferma (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
Part Two
6.The Loop Man # Ardha Jai Taal originated in 2016."The Loop Man" is a nickname which Mike Garson gave me because of the many rhythmic-melodic patterns which I composed for in particular the left hand. By frequent repetitions these patterns function as a "groove" or a "loop".They are particularly suitable for cross-overs between genres of music. The loop in this piece has 13 beats, following the example of Ardha Jai Taal, a rhythmic pattern from Indian music.
Video The Loop Man (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
7. Exaltation is like Wild Energy originally a movement from Five Dances for organ. The neo-Celtic melody came to me after watching a performance by Riverdance, an Irish dance group that was famous in the '90s.
Video Exaltation (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen,2016)
8. Howling Sands is a title which spontaneously rose up when I made this piece in May 2016, after visiting the Der Aa-church in Groningen. When I entered it as a search term on Internet, I saw to my surprise that howling sands really exist. It is a natural sound phenomenon of up to 105 dBs, lasting as long as several minutes, that occurs in about thirty-five desert locations around the world, for instance the Mojave Desert in California.
Video Howling Sands (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
9. Birds, drums and signals is the second movement of Three Light Pieces. Similar to Listening to the fairies a mood of naive, childlike joy can be recognized. The loop or groove (with a 13/8 time signature) is played by the right hand and accompanies an improvisation on the flute and a rather virtuoso part for the organist's left hand.
Video Birds, drums and signals (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
10.Terra Incognita is in line with the title the freest movement of The Enchanted Desert. Its content depends on the circumstances of the location and the moment. In Groningen it resulted in an improvisation by percussionist-composer Friso van Wijck.
Video Terra Incognita (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
Part Three
11. Grooving Angry Elephants originated in May 2016, when the magnificent trumpets of the Schnittger-organ in the Der Aa-church served as a source of inspiration. Before they sound there is a wild passage in octaves, played with a plenum of the positive. The 11/8 groove that follows, with the sound of the main organ reeds and played by the left hand, suggests the swaying back and forth of the elephant's trunk and its trumpeting. The improvising right hand expresses a feeling of rage and powerlessness. The title came to me after watching a video about hunted elephants on YouTube.
Video Grooving Angry Elephants (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
12. Madonna of the sky plays a key role in The Enchanted Desert. It refers to the Assumption of Maria, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who was born as a Mohawk Indian, the unforgettable image of the Angel in Messiaen's opera Saint-François d'Assise in the Parisian performance in 2004 and symbols of fertility all over the world, like the bee.
Madonna of the sky suits the following passage from Valle-Inclán's novel The Flower of Sanctity very well:
(fragmento de la novela Flor de Santidad de Ramon María del Valle-Inclán)
"When Adega went up to the mountain with her sheep, she would lay herself down in the shadow of large boulders and spend many hours there, her eyes fastened upon the clouds and her young soul in ecstasy. Full of naive faith she hoped that the immense blue would tear apart, letting her see the Glory. Unaware of time, and lost in the haze of this dream she felt the burning breath of the miracle pass her face. And the miracle happened!…One summer nightfall Adega arrived out of breath at the tavern, her face transfigured."
(fragment of the novel Flower of Sanctity by Ramon María del Valle-Inclán, translated by Peter Clark)
"When Adega went up to the mountain with her sheep, she would lay herself down in the shadow of large boulders and spend many hours there, her eyes fastened upon the clouds and her young soul in ecstasy. Full of naive faith she hoped that the immense blue would tear apart, letting her see the Glory. Unaware of time, and lost in the haze of this dream she felt the burning breath of the miracle pass her face. And the miracle happened!…One summer nightfall Adega arrived out of breath at the tavern, her face transfigured."
(fragment of the novel Flower of Sanctity by Ramon María del Valle-Inclán, translated by Peter Clark)
13. Mirage - Intensity - Vision brings the third and final climax, that surpasses the two before. The first part is based on an improvisation which I played to express a storm in Henk van Ulsen's performance Job in the '90s. It also appeared with the title Breakwave on my CD Imaginary Day. The second part originates in an improvisation from the mid '80s, when I was still studying with Jan Welmers at the conservatoire in Utrecht.
Video Mirage -Intensity - Vision (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
14. My friend the Indian was originally written for a Yamaha SY99-synthesizer in 1996 and is dedicated to Rien Roggeveen and —in 2017— Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. The piece evokes an image of a desert that flourishes after heavy rainfall. An indian is sitting on the ground, looking quietly around him.
Video Mirage -Intensity - Vision (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)
14. My friend the Indian was originally written for a Yamaha SY99-synthesizer in 1996 and is dedicated to Rien Roggeveen and —in 2017— Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. The piece evokes an image of a desert that flourishes after heavy rainfall. An indian is sitting on the ground, looking quietly around him.
Photo by Guy Tal
