Aa: Here [enclosed] for chamber orchestra and soundtrack

The second disc of music by the contemporary Dutch composer Michel van der Aa to be released on the new label Disquiet Media consists of a trilogy of pieces for small orchestral ensembles each of which is titled Here. The first, (“enclosed”), and the third, (“to be found”), incorporate a soundtrack. The American soprano Claron McFadden also features in the third piece, as well as the second, (“in circles”). The Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra is conducted by Peter Eötvös and Etienne Siebens.

Michel van der Aa was born in the Netherlands in 1970, and is one of Europe’s most sought-after composers. In 1999 Van der Aa was the first Dutch composer to win the prestigious International Gaudeamus Prize. Subsequent awards include the Matthijs Vermeulen prize (2004), a Siemens Composers Grant (2005), the Charlotte Köhler Prize for his directing work and the interdisciplinary character of his oeuvre (2005) and the Paul Hindemith Prize (2006). Van der Aa recently revised his successful 2006 opera After Life for a revival by De Nederlandse Opera in September 2009 and by Opera de Lyon in March this year. In May it was presented semi-staged at the Barbican Centre in London. Sound, in Michel van der Aa’s book, is malleable. It can constantly assume other forms, sometimes recognisable, sometimes not. Van der Aa is in fact a playwright in music. His sounds, like real people, can be flexible or stubborn and either reinforce or counteract each other, affecting audiences with their expressive power.