Auditory Reset: Vincent van Amsterdam (Berio, Gubaidulina, Bongers)

Auditory Reset is a new initiative of an ongoing concert programme line starting from October 2022, at A Lab in Amsterdam Noord. Every second Tuesday of the month, from 18:00 till 18:30, we are to presenting radiating musicians with intriguing performances.

On the 14th of February, Vincent van Amsterdam, an excellent Dutch accordionist, will present three pieces.

Gubaidulina's De Profundis and Berio's Sequenza are two iconic works in the accordion repertoire. In the 1970s and 1980s, Gubaidulina was one of the first major composers to write for accordion, and later composers have mostly been inspired by her compositions. She likes to compare the accordion to a beast. A beast that sighs, groans, watches quietly or suddenly rips your head off.

Berio's 13th Sequenza has the only subtitle ''Chanson'' and has a lovely character, especially for Berio's doing. The melodic motif with which the piece begins returns several times and gives calm and space in a work that is otherwise very agile. Berio was surprised and charmed by the many sound and timbre possibilities of an accordion. An instrument with a complicated character, sometimes compliant and sometimes autonomous.

The last piece comes from Dutch composer Bianca Bongers. Her "Aardverschuiving", which you can also listen to in Bianca's recent CD 'SURROUNDED BY AIR' (done under 7 Mountain Records label), musically describes the microscopic life on the ground surface and creates a juxtaposition between pointillistic music and chordal chanting.

Come to experience concert in a new, extraordinary way.

Let's pause, focus and escape for a moment from the outside rushing world!