Martijn Padding: Three Concerti

Eight Metal Strings; First Harmonium Concerto; White Eagle

Martiene Sikkenk (mandoline), Dirk Luijmes (harmonium) & Heleen Hulst (violin)
Asko Schönberg ensemble/Etienne Siebe

etcetera: KTC1406

A Dutch original who studied with Andriessen and quickly became a composition teacher himself. Completely new music, sharp and clearly instrumentated with extra instruments.

These are maybe the first modern concertos for mandoline and for Mustel harmonium with pressure bellows, and all three are highly collectable.

They are well described in the liner notes, which I shall not try to summarise. My illustration is from another work, with double-bell trumpet, which you can see & hear on You-Tube. Padding's music is elegantly anarchic and I have played this disc through twice, which is rarely possible.

If you know & enjoy Richard Ayres' NONcertos this'll be for you - and vice versa ! If you haven't come across either composer, I'm sure you'll thank me for the tip.

Peter Grahame Woolf

Martijn Padding. Concert-Portret You-Tube
Marco Blaauw, doublebell trumpet, Studio for New Music/Dronov,
Moscow Conservatory, 2006