“Notturno is a piece for oboe solo and 11 instruments which lasts approximately 12 minutes. The piece has a 4-part structure in the sequence slow-fast-slow-fast, and with the proportions 2: 4: 1: 5. Like all my other works, this piece also has a fractal form, in that the proportions keep repeating in the rhythm on an every smaller level.

Notturno – associations after the fact

1st movement: (2 minutes)
A late summer evening in East Amsterdam. A Brazilian tango orchestra rehearses on the third floor of an apartment building on 1st Oosterparkstraat. Moments later, the jazz bassist from the US in the attic begins warming up, and the Indian oboist on the 2nd floor begins practicing his long notes. The counterpoint, separated by floors and ceilings, produces a wonderful sort of multicultural sound. Suddenly, the music freezes in fright when a police car (in the horns) drives past outside. After all, all the residents are undocumented immigrants. When it seems the expected raid is not forthcoming, the playing together resumes and is expanded. Then we hear the police car pass by again (faster this time). The tango orchestra and the jazz bassist decide to call it quits.

2nd movement: (4 minutes)
In the meantime, the mice in the shops on the ground floor begin eagerly searching for food, and the oboists starts practicing runs and fragments of melodies, which he thinks he remembers from Mozart. Soon, the Italian opera singer who lives next door wakes up, yawns noisily and sighs before falling back to sleep. This whole thing is only repeated once the oboist has tried to imitate the singer.

3rd movement: (1 minute)
The house is now completely quiet. The oboist has climbed onto the roof and plays a few phrases just for himself, accompanied by the rustling of the trees and the sound of trams buzzing past in the distance.

4th movement: (5 minutes)
A few streets away, a house party is taking place. The oboist tries to keep pace, at a tempo of 136 beats per minute. We can only hear the results through the closed door, and decide to walk home, looking up at the stars every now and then.
A summer evening in Amsterdam Oost (East Amsterdam).”

– Theo Verbey