Reed orchestra

Programme

Giel Vleggaar	Pretty Beautiful - for 12 Reed Instruments
Ton ter Doest	The Fax Process - for 12 Reed Instruments
Maurice Ravel	La Valse - for 12 Reed Instruments
Steve Reich	New York Counterpoint
Johann Sebastian Bach	Passacaglia and fugue BWV582
Richard Wagner	Isoldes Liebestod - for 12 Reed Instruments

De Volkskrant (concert review); “The twelve musicians sparkled as CalefaXL in a sold out Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh (Utrecht) with new compositions and inventive arrangements.”
De Volkskrant (CD-review); “CalefaXL juggles with notes, and keeps them in the air in a magnificent way.”

What is even nicer than a reed quintet? A reed orchestra of course! In 1995, for CALEFAX’s tenth birthday, saxophonist Raaf Hekkema arranged Maurice Ravel’s orchestral score La Valse for twelve reed instruments, ranging from Eb-clarinet to contra bassoon. In 2010 CALEFAX hopes, as part of its 25^th anniversary celebrations, to see a long cherished wish, in which the quintet for one whole project will be extended to an ensemble of symphonic stature, come true.
Having said this, the essence of chamber music making will indeed be preserved: the five CALEFAX musicians will first rehearse the works to be played and will then coach the extra seven players.
For this project CALEFAX seeks partnership with Music Colleges and/or Conservatories. The selected masterclass students will be offered the opportunity to perform with CALEFAX.
On the programme, of course, Ravel’s La Valse, that, after 15 years, gets a new chance. Oliver Boekhoorn will tackle an arrangement of Richard Wagner’s Ouverture, Bach's Passacaglia for nine instruments can be heard in a version for reed instruments, and Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint, which CALEFAX frequently and successfully toured around the world in a tape version, can now be heard in a live version.

The reed orchestra-project will appear on CD in March 2011