Jongen: Aria et Polonaise, Op. 128

‘An American soldier says, “I was like wow” at the moment when he is describing his violent experiences during the Iraq war. This showed me that words and exclamations like “ wow” are used to indicate that something has made a deep impression, regardless of whether that impression is positive or negative; you can be impressed by something in all kinds of different ways. That’s what gave me the idea of finding pieces for my new CD, ‘I was like WOW!’ that had all impressed me deeply for all different kinds of reasons, pieces that for some reason had given me a ‘wow’ feeling.’ Jörgen van Rijen

Van Rijen, ‘the real ambassador of his instrument’ won many awards and prizes: winner of prestigious Netherlands Music Prize, First Prizes at the international trombone competitions in Guebwiller and Toulon, winner of Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

It has often been said that music is a universal language; it is not, though, universally understood as a mother tongue, it is only universally spoken thus. So one must always attempt to hear it like something new, not quite familiar with a tourist's perception. Let's travel, then, and imagine some interesting encounters, where a German Brahms would understand a French Saint-Saëns as much as a Russian Glière, where a Belgian Jongen would make himself understood to an Austrian Kreisler as much as to a British Elgar, and where a trombonist and a pianist would understand themselves mutually. The listener, then, will have the creative opportunity to impart these familiar and less familiar sounds with significance while surrendering to the sheer pleasure of their beauty.