Guillaume de Machaut, Ballade no. 37, 'Dame, se vous m'estes'
Theo arranged this Ballade by Guillaume de Machaut in 2015 for portative organ and trombone especially for Sebastiaan Kemner and Andrea Vasi for their Finale in the Dutch Classical Talent competition. This arrangement has not yet been published.
Mussorgsky: Une Larme
Details
Duration:
5'
Instrumentation:
string orchestra
First performed:
Amsterdam Sinfonietta
Ravel – Trois Chansons: Oiseaux Tristes, La Vallee des Cloches, La Valse
Ravel – Trois Chansons: Oiseaux Tristes, La Vallee des Cloches, La Valse
Inst. Theo Verbey | 1990
Stravinsky: Les noces
Details
Duration:
24'
Instrumentation:
Solo Voice(s) soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass Chorus SATB 2perc/2cim.hmn.pianola
Commissioned by:
Peppie Wiersma with financial support from the Société Gavigniès
First performance:
15 August 2009 at the Hermitage in Amsterdam as the opening concert of the Grachtenfestival, performed by Cappella Amsterdam:
Françoise Rivalland: Cimbalom
Michiel Weidner: Cimbalom
Dirk Luijmes: Harmonium
Peppie Wiersma: Percussion
Rozemarie Heggen: Percussion
In Theo's Own Words
Finishing an “Unfinished” Svadebka
“In April of 2003, I received a phone call from percussionist Peppie Wiersma. She wanted to perform the 1919 (unfinished) version of Stravinsky’s Les Noces/ Svadebka, and asked if I would complete the instrumentation of the last two scenes. I studied the material, and my first reaction was one of caution, but Peppie persisted. First a practical problem had to be solved: there was no point in even beginning without permission from Stravinsky’s heirs, and getting that permission was going to be no easy task. Finally, after four years, in March 2007, the heirs reached an agreement with Chester Music, the publisher.
That was the moment for me to begin working. I received a facsimile edition of the two scenes completed by Stravinsky and studied them thoroughly. Seeing that the orchestration consists not only of two cimbaloms, a harmonium and percussion but also a pianola, I learned as much as I could about the ins and outs of the instrument from Kasper Janse at the Pianola Museum here in Amsterdam.
Although I’m already familiar with the cimbalom (I used it in a piece of mine in 1987), I seek further advice from Françoise Rivalland, an expert on the instrument. The level of difficulty in the already completed scenes seems to be very high. We experiment with the sound of different types of sticks, and check the diagram for which I’ll be writing the score. Next I visit harmonium specialist Dirk Luijmes, who explains to me the many possibilities and limitations of his instrument.
In the autumn of 2007 I fan out the four versions of Svadebka across my desk: the facsimile of what Stravinsky had completed of the 1919 version, the withheld version of the 1917 orchestration, the definitive 1923 version, and the piano score. Finally I can get to work. I make it my task in scenes 3 and 4 to be as faithful as possible to the character of Stravinsky’s instrumentation in the first two scenes. The important principles here are the central role of the pianola, the degree of difficulty in the writing for the individual instruments, the (sometimes daring) balance between voices and instruments, and finally the rediscovering of the correct manner of notation. (?) During my work I constantly compare the different versions with each other and draw my own conclusions from the discrepancies.
On November 16th, 2007, I send Peppie and Chester Music the completed score for the 1919 version on Svadebka for soloists, choir, two cimbaloms, harmonium, pianola and percussion.”
– Theo Verbey
In Concert
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Press Quotes
“Of all his ballets, Stravinsky’s Les Noces – an evocation of Russian peasant wedding rituals – was the one he laboured over longest as he changed his mind several times about its instrumentation.[…]
All that said, the pianola’s mechanistic and inexorable tempo drives much of the performance, effectively depersonalising the ritual while sharpening the rhythmic profile of much of the music. Yet the Ensemble Aedes and its various soloists, even while working with the pianola’s relentless drive, admirably characterise their singing, one moment full of rough enthusiasm or raw emotion, the next beguilingly lyrical.
Hearing Stravinsky’s long-desired but originally unfulfilled version of Les Noces – so compellingly realised between Verbey and these fine musicians – is worth the price of entry alone.” – Daniel Jaffe, BBC Music Magazine
Video
Svadebka (in Dutch)
5'49"
Recording
Strauss: Zwei letzte Lieder
Details
Duration:
14'
Instrumentation:
Solo: CT; 2(2picc).1.eh.2.bclar.2 - 2.1.1.0 - timp, cel – str [6.6.4div.4div.4]
Commissioned by:
The Royal Concertgebouworkest
World premiere:
4 April 2019, David Robertson, conducting
About 'Strauss: Zwei letzte Lieder'
Theo Verbey arranged two of the Letzte Lieder by Strauss for this production for countertenor and orchestra.
With the new musical theatre production Death in Venice, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra returns to the Royal Theatre Carré for the first time in a long time. This unique co-production with Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA, formerly known as Toneelgroep Amsterdam), is based on Thomas Mann’s classic novella and features newly composed music.
In Death in Venice, Thomas Mann tells the story of von Aschenbach – a celebrated German writer representing Mann’s alter ego – who meets an innocent adolescent, Tadzio. The writer’s intense, uncontrollable infatuation ultimately leads to his spiritual and physical destruction. In Ramsey Nasr’s reworking as a musical theatre piece, the characters are performed by actors, but also by orchestral musicians and a singer. Music plays a leading role in the drama.
In Concert
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Scriabin: Preludes (4) for Piano, Op. 33
In Theo's Own Words
“In 1903, Alexander Scriabin composed four preludes for piano solo with the opus number 33. In 2011, Theo Verbey arranged these short piano pieces for hobo, violin, viola and cello. The first prelude of opus 33 has a hesitating character with a main melody in the oboe, and the strings playing the accompaniment. The second prelude has the designation vagamente and has an uncertain character. The third contrasts strongly with the previous two with an abrupt and insistent atmosphere. Scriabin added the indication con collera (= with anger). The fourth and last has the indications ardito, meaning boldly, and bellicoso, which means bellicose. The speed of this fourth prelude has been increased through the use of five beats in the measure.
The arrangement has been entirely based on the combination of the four instruments, incorporating all the characteristics that hobo, violin, viola and violoncello have individually. Every association with the piano as an instrument is gone, so that an almost entirely new piece is created.”
– Theo Verbey
In Concert
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Video
Preludes, Op. 33: IV
0:50
Recording
Schubert: Andante from the Piano Sonata in A
In Theo's Own Words
“The Andante from the Piano Sonata in A of Franz Schubert was orchestrated in 1990. I used a regular symphony orchestra (without trumpets and timpani) to keep it close to Schubert’s style of orchestrating. The piece has a subdued character and is suitable to be performed in an orchestral version.”
– Theo Verbey
In Concert
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Rachmaninov: Spring Waters Op. 14 no. 11
Details
Duration:
3'
Instrumentation:
1.picc.2.eh.2.2 - 4.3.3.1 - timp, perc[snaredr.trg.cymb.bassdr.glsp], hp - str - soprano-solo
Commissioned by:
The Royal Concertgebouworkest
First performance:
conducted by Mariss Jansons, with Eva-Marie Westbroek as soprano soloist
In Theo's Own Words
“I was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to orchestrate a song by Rachmaninoff called Spring Waters. In 2017 this version had its premiere in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Eva-Maria Westbroek singing, accompanied by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons. I made this orchestration last February (2017) and it took me about a week to do it. The song is fairly short (2 minutes), but it has a rapid tempo and a lot of notes. It was especially difficult to keep the balance between the voice and the orchestra.”
– Theo Verbey
In Concert
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