INTEGRATING THE RECORDER

A project by Tomma Wessel and Champ d'Action

'What does the recorder has to offer a composer at the beginning of the 21st century?'

 
This is the question that Champ d'Action and recorder player Tomma Wessel posed to five young composers. Working from highly diverse backgrounds and compositional styles, the composers each came up with an answer in the form of a new composition. They were given Champ d'Action's inspiring spectrum of instruments to work with: piano, percussion, double bass, electric and acoustic guitar and live electronics combined with the instruments from the recorder family in the broadest possible defintion, encompassing everything from the sopranino to the square subbass recorder.

The composers worked closely with Tomma Wessel in the context of her doctoral project for the Orpheus Institute in Ghent and the University of Leiden. The point of departure was that the various techniques for playing the recorder and the integration of these within a chamber music ensemble had to play a central role: in other words, the composers were challenged to explore the recorder's surprisingly wide range of possibilities.

This project, centred on recorder player Tomma Wessel has started during the previous season. Champ d’Action and Tomma Wessel created compositions for recorder and ensemble by composers Jeff Nichols, Matthew Shlomowitz, David Nunezanez and Stefan Prins.

 
This season, two more new pieces will be added: the composition ‘Clear’ by Stefan Van Eycken and a creation by Michael Finnissy. Of this project, an upcoming CD in the ARCHIVE SERIES of Champ d’Action is soon to be released. This recording was made with the support and co-operation of the Orpheus Institute.

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