Source Ground - album cover

Source Ground

Hans Bakker composer

Release Date: September 23, 2022
Catalog #: NV6452
Format: Digital
21st Century
Orchestral
Solo Instrumental
Orchestra
Organ
Piano

On SOURCE GROUND, Hans Bakker’s second full-length release on Navona Records, the composer once again probes music’s ability to, as Leonard Bernstein said, “name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” Rhythmically rigorous pieces for solo piano, organ works that fill every nook and cranny of the aural spectrum, powerful orchestral works, and pieces for the rare and haunting lame-sonore draw listeners towards a sense of infinite oneness connected by music.

Listen

Hear the full album on YouTube

Track Listing & Credits

# Title Composer Performer
01 Fanfare Ananke for orchestra Hans Bakker London Symphony Orchestra | Miran Vaupotić, conductor 8:19
02 Two Pieces for piano: I. Omaggio Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 2:59
03 Two Pieces for piano: II. Capriccio Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 4:43
04 Toccatina for piano Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 1:53
05 Three Epilogues for piano: I. Largo Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 2:53
06 Three Epilogues for piano: II. Allegretto Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 1:29
07 Three Epilogues for piano: III. Lento e rubato Hans Bakker Rangel Silaev, piano 3:50
08 Three Pieces for organ: I. Source ground Hans Bakker Frans Jan Wijma, organ 7:01
09 Three Pieces for organ: II. Invocation Hans Bakker Frans Jan Wijma, organ 5:34
10 Three Pieces for organ: III. Just the Jewel of the Heart Hans Bakker Frans Jan Wijma, organ 6:14
11 Toccata for organ Hans Bakker Maarten Wilmink, organ 7:34
12 Spark for lame sonore (musical saw), viola and piano Hans Bakker Annette Scholten, lame sonore (musical saw); Luca Altdorfer, viola; Nanke Flach, piano 4:55
13 Dare Voce I for lame sonore (musical saw) Hans Bakker Annette Scholten, lame sonore (musical saw) 4:39
14 Dare Voce II for lame sonore (musical saw) Hans Bakker Annette Scholten, lame sonore (musical saw) 4:25
15 Cantus for string orchestra Hans Bakker Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra | Vit Micka, conductor 5:41

Fanfare Ananke for orchestra
Recorded February 25, 2022 at LSO St. Luke’s in London, United Kingdom
Editing, Mixing & Producer Brad Michel
Engineers Jonathan Stokes, Neil Hutchinson

Two Pieces for piano, Toccatina for piano, Three Epilogues for piano
Recorded January 5, 2022 at ERA Studios in Venray, Netherlands
Producer Hans Bakker
Engineer Chris Slager
Session Coordinator Oksana Titova

Three Pieces for organ
Recorded January 5 & May 13, 2021 in Amersfoort, Netherlands
Producer Hans Bakker
Engineer Frans Jan Wijma

Toccata for organ
Recorded December 21, 2021 at St. Lambertus basilica in Hengelo, Netherlands
Producer Hans Bakker
Engineer Maarten Wilmink

Spark for lame sonore, viola and piano
Recorded January 7, 2022 in Wehe-den Hoorn, Netherlands
Producer Hans Bakker
Engineer Tjalling Nijboer
Session Coordinator Annette Scholten

Dare Voce I for lame sonore, Dare Voce II for lame sonore
Recorded January 6, 2022 in Groningen, Netherlands
Producer Hans Bakker
Engineer Tjalling Nijboer
Session Coordinator Annette Scholten

Cantus for string orchestra
Recorded March 10, 2010 in Olomouc, Czech Republic
Producer Vít Mužík
Engineer Zdeněk Slavotínek

Track 8 recorded via Sonus Paradisi, Krzeszow Organ, M. Engler (1732-37), Poland

Tracks 9 & 10 recorded via Sonus Paradisi, Caen-St.Etienne Abbey, A. Cavaillé-Coll (1885), France

Executive Producer Bob Lord

A&R Director Brandon MacNeil

Production Director Levi Brown
VP of Production Jan Košulič
Production Assistant Martina Watzková
Audio Director Lucas Paquette
Mastering Melanie Montgomery

VP, Design & Marketing Brett Picknell
Art Director Ryan Harrison
Design Edward A. Fleming, Morgan Hauber
Publicity Patrick Niland, Aidan Curran

Artist Information

Hans Bakker

Composer

After he finished his studies piano, church organ, and choral conducting at the Dutch Institute for Church Music in Utrecht, Hans Bakker (b. 1945) worked as a teacher at two music schools in the Netherlands. He also conducted two choirs and was active in the improvisational music scene. His career in music was followed by the study of Sanskrit. After obtaining his master's degree at the University of Amsterdam, he returned to music, becoming completely occupied by teaching at Globe Center for Art and Culture in the city of Hilversum.

London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

Orchestra

Widely acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, The London Symphony Orchestra was named by Gramophone as one of the top five orchestras in the world. A world-leader in recording music for film, television, and events, it was the official orchestra of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games ceremonies, memorably performing Chariots of Fire on stage in the opening ceremony, conducted by Simon Rattle and with Rowan Atkinson.

Miran Vaupotić

Conductor

Acclaimed as “dynamic and knowledgeable” by the Buenos Aires Herald, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has worked with eminent orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, and others, performing in major halls around the globe such as Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Dubai Opera, Tchaikovsky Hall, International House of Music, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and more.

Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra

Orchestra

The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the foremost and oldest symphony orchestras in the Czech Republic. It is based in the historical capital of Moravia, the city of Olomouc, and has been a leader of music activities in the region for the past 70 years. Its artistic development was directly influenced by distinguished figures from the Czech and international music scene.

Rangel Silaev

Rangel Silaev

Pianist

Dutch virtuoso pianist and composer Rangel Silaev has been playing the piano since he was 5 years old. He first worked with orchestras at the age of 9 and began giving piano recitals and concerts. At just 10 years of age, Silaev became the youngest pupil at the Young Musician Academy of the Conservatory. In 2014, he started studying at the Dutch Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he is taught by the renowned professors Naum Grubert and Ellen Corver.

Despite his young age, Rangel has been awarded numerous major prizes, including the International Novak Piano Competition in the Czech Republic, first prize at the Prinses Christina Concours, and the Classic Young Masters Award in the Netherlands. He received The Gold Label from the Belgium organization Klassiek Centraal. In 2021, he received his first Gold Record for his contribution as a composer/producer of modern music.

His repertoire includes Rachmaninov, Liszt, and Schumann, as well as his own compositions. Rangel has made various television appearances, including as a guest on Podium Witteman. Today, he regularly performs in concerts, solo and together with orchestras. He continues to compose, and increasingly produces his own neo-classical music, as well as film scores.

The mix of classical and his own music makes Rangel’s performances unique. He also performs and records on his Steinway grand piano in his own concert venue, ERA Studios in Venray, where he works on new initiatives. In his own words: “In my concerts and recordings, I aim to surprise my audience with both classical music and the latest technological possibilities in my own compositions for a new era.”

Frans Jan Wijma

Frans Jan Wijma

Organist

Frans Jan Wijma received his first organ lessons at the age of 8 from a local organ teacher, eventually moving on to lessons from Hans Bakker, Haite van der Schaaf, Gerrit ‘t Hart, Anton Pauw, and Harry van Wijk. Since 1977 he has been organist of various Reformed churches in Bussum, Almere, and Amersfoort.

Maarten Wilmink

Maarten Wilmink

Organist

Maarten Wilmink is active as an international concert organist and church musician. He studied organ at the Conservatory in Rotterdam with Zuzana Ferjenčíková and Christian Schmitt after studying for two years with Ben van Oosten. He also studies improvisation with Hayo Boerema. Wilmink regularly performs recitals on historical and famous organs in The Netherlands and abroad.

In his capacity as church organist he has been broadcast live several times on Dutch national television. Wilmink has a YouTube channel on which he publishes his own recordings and he is active as a private organ teacher.

He has attended masterclasses with Olivier Latry, Louis Robilliard, Jean-Baptiste Robin, and several others. In 2018 he was admitted to the Young-Talent program of the International Organfestival Haarlem, where he also played during the final concert. He won first prizes at the SGO-Organ Competition 2018 and the Quintus-Organ Competition 2021.

Annette Scholten and Nanke Flach

Annette Scholten and Nanke Flach

Sawist and Pianist

Annette Scholten and Nanke Flach, both from The Netherlands, formed a duo in 2009. Scholten obtained her master’s degree as a cellist from the Prince Claus Conservatory in Groningen, with an extra certificate for chamber music. Scholten performed as a soloist with several orchestras, both cello and lame sonore. Flach studied piano at the conservatories of Groningen and Utrecht, where she obtained a master’s degree with special attention to chamber music and accompaniment. Flach is a laureate of the Princess Christina Competition for performing chamber music and much in demand as an accompanist.

After winning a Special Mention at the Ibla Grand Prize 2014, the duo played many concerts in The Netherlands and abroad. They performed several times at Dutch Radio4, broadcast live from the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In 2015, they were invited for a concert tour in the United States, which included their very well received Carnegie Hall debut. In 2018, the duo presented their first album, Angelo, which included Hans Bakker’s Miniature. In 2019 and 2021, the duo was part of the jury for the Ibla Grand Prize in Sicily.

For the recording of Spark, the duo collaborated with violist Luca Altdorfer.

Luca Altdorfer

Luca Altdorfer

Violist

Luca Altdorfer is a Hungarian violist currently living in The Netherlands, Groningen. She is active as a violin, viola, and chamber teacher and as a chamber and orchestra player. She has performed on radio stations throughout Europe, and with orchestras such as Sebastian Strings in Belgium, Budapest Bach Consort, Noord Nederlands Orkest, and Ciconia Consort (Den Haag), and toured in China with the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 she completed her studies at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, Hungary.

She finished her bachelor’s degree in the class of Ervin Schiffer at the Prins Claus Conservatory, Groningen where in 2017 she finished her master’s cum laude under the guidance of Christophe Weidmann. She attended masterclasses by Máté Szűcs (Berliner Philharmonie), Francien Schatborn (Conservatory Amsterdam), Esther van Stralen (Conservatory Bremen), and baroque violist Jane Rogers (Royal Conservatory of London). She has played chamber music concerts with Julie Albers, Moshe Hammer, and Roland Daugareil. She was invited to present her research “Composed to the Soul”: Carl Friedrich Abel’s Compositions Arranged for Viola at the 44th International Viola Congress Wellington, New Zealand. The arrangements for viola and double bass are published by Da Vinci Publishing.

Notes

The impetus for this album, my second full-length following the release of THE UNNAMED SOURCE on Navona 12 years ago, was twofold. Firstly, an invitation from PARMA Recordings to contribute to the Fanfare project with the London Symphony Orchestra. Secondly, an unexpected reunion with a former organ student, Frans Jan Wijma. In addition to his profession as an engineer, he was a church organist all those years. He asked me if I was interested in writing an organ piece, which resulted in 14 works in 2021. After his expressive recordings of the Three Pieces, via Hauptwerk, I didn’t want to wait any longer to release these pieces to the world. When I found the young organ virtuoso Maarten Wilmink willing to record my Toccata for Organ, my decision was finalized by contact with piano virtuoso Rangel Silaev, who found it a challenge to record six recent piano works. Annette Scholten, cellist and pioneer in the development of the lame sonore, joined in with Nanke Flach to perform three works written for her.

Leonard Bernstein said, “music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” That could have been the motto of my first album. It also links to and is encompassed by the title “Source Ground,” the first of the Three Pieces for Organ, which is inspired by an incomprehensible text in the book The Mystery of Golgotha (p.22 & 23). It gave me the impetus for the idea and title of this second full album.

It is a tribute to the one indivisible life, which breathes uninterruptedly in all that lives in an infinite variety and diversity, and which wants to come to consciousness in every person. My music wants to act as an aide-memoire for the listener, but first of all it wants to be enjoyed.

— Hans Bakker

The ancient Greeks thought their gods subordinate to Ananke (Necessity). It was for them the highest spiritual ordering principle in man and life, similar to the Cosmic Order (Rta) in Vedic mythology. The music starts violently and full of life with the fanfare in F major, then turns into a ballad-like section, and ends inescapably with the repeat of the beginning.

— Hans Bakker

“Omaggio” pays tribute to the one indivisible life, which breathes uninterruptedly in all that lives in an infinite variety and diversity, and which wants to come to consciousness in every person. At the same time, it pays homage to the worn-out Viennese waltz, which a large audience has enjoyed for a long time. This piece was premiered by the young virtuoso Rangel Silaev.

— Hans Bakker

“Capriccio” has the subtitle “Center and Circle.” It’s a pun and allusion to the idea attributed to Hermes Trismegistos, that the nature of the deity resembles a “circle whose center is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere.” The capriciousness of the polyphonic structure mixed with the traditional sonata form gets even more emphasis and drive in this very first interpretation by Rangel Silaev.

— Hans Bakker

This is a short, whimsical piece. With a sort of thematic triple, reversible, contrapuntal voice tissue and a long, free final sentence it is challenging. Rangel Silaev took the challenge with this tickling and somewhat alienating energetic content.

— Hans Bakker

I see this piece as a commentary on my old piano pieces. I wanted to write a lyrical piano work without a pronounced minor or major character but rather with a free atonality. “When playing, think as if you were a string quartet,” as Rangel Silaev does.

— Hans Bakker

This piece is somewhat pointed and energetic, which is clear in Rangel Silaev’s interpretation. I wouldn’t be surprised if you think you hear a hint of Bach and Prokofiev in the distance, although the basic material for this piece is a free use use of the Istrian scale: F#, G, A, Bb, C, D E; i.e., with a raised fifth or a lowered seventh, if it suits me.

— Hans Bakker

No. 3 is reminiscent of a rondo, in which the first theme, via an andantino, works as a connecting chorus to the triplet motifs of the allegretto. Although the piece ends in F# major, you cannot assign a specific ladder or mode for the piece as a whole, just like in No 1. It may be played freely in all respects. Rangel Silaev paints a wide spectrum of colors and emotions.

— Hans Bakker

The first recording of No. 1 by Frans Jan Wijma gave me the impetus for the idea and title of this second full album. At the heart of all three pieces is a short hymn-like melody.

— Hans Bakker

Spiritually speaking, “No. 2 Invocation” ties in with No. 1, because a real invocation requires the whole man. In the piece this is portrayed by using the entire spectrum of the organ. Just like in No. 1, the short hymn-like melody resurfaces here, now a whole note higher.

— Hans Bakker

On one hand, I have associated the title of No. 3 with this old Dutch saying: “With mouth prayers / Nor sing alone / God is pleased. / That which sings the heart / Penetrates the clouds.” On the other hand, I see the title as a reference to the divine spark that every human being carries in their heart, as in the ancient mantra: “Om mani padme hum (The jewel is in the lotus).”

— Hans Bakker

This demanding work is recorded with exciting colors and depth by the young virtuoso Maarten Wilmink on the Vermeulen-Adema organ of the St. Lambertus basilica in Hengelo. The tone material is based on a hybrid use of the Bartok scale, the full tone scale, and minor. In the middle of the piece I briefly quote myself from Hidden in Her Light for Orchestra.

— Hans Bakker

After Annette Scholten premiered my “Miniature for Lame Sonore and Piano,” recorded on her album Angelo, she and pianist Nanke Flach inspired me to write this trio SPARK. In the lame sonore part the entire cantus part of the choir work Rat is included.

— Hans Bakker

Both Dare Voce preludes are dedicated to Annette Scholten. The first one is in fact an etude with the tritonus as a frequent and speaking interval in a free use of Istrian, Bartok, and minor scales, with a raised quarter and fifth.

— Hans Bakker

The second prelude, also dedicated to Annette Scholten, a pioneer in the development of this instrument, is slow in nature and uses the tritonus only three times, but expressively.

— Hans Bakker

On this final track, the Cantus is repeated, which was the opening track of THE UNNAMED SOURCE, as the hopeful reminder that every ending involves a new beginning.

— Hans Bakker

Scores

Fanfare Ananke for orchestra (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Two Pieces for piano: I. Omaggio (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Two Pieces for piano: II. Capriccio (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Toccatina for piano (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Epilogues for piano: I. Largo (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Epilogues for piano: II. Allegretto (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Epilogues for piano: III. Lento e rubato (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Pieces for organ: I. Source ground (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Pieces for organ: II. Invocation (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Three Pieces for organ: III. Just the Jewel of the Heart (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Toccata for organ (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Spark for lame sonore, viola and piano (excerpt)

Hans Bakker

Cantus for string orchestra (excerpt)

Hans Bakker