Little Swiss Fantasy | Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk

2001

Four violins

2’42”

1st perf. Tarasp (Swiss, Unter-Engadin), November 1, 2001 Commissioned by Margess International International of Switzerland for RadioDiffusion Suisse

The Little Swiss Fantasy from 2001 is a highly rhythmical paraphrase of the Swiss National Anthem. This melody, woven through the piece like a cantus firmus, gets all and any alien musics thrown at it and is eventually even forced into a lyrical mood. It was the final piece in the ‘Nationalsendung’ (nationwide broadcast) to celebrate the Swiss 810th anniversary, and is here perfomed by an international group of young violin players: Yang Yi, Rosanne Philippens, Catharina Chen and Jeroen van der Wel.

Little Swiss Fantasy

About me

Musical beauty and simplicity are my aim. My guiding principle is the classical European tradition. Folk music, church music and Early Music are the sources to which I return to seek new melodic beauty. I value musical craftsmanship and intuition highly. Musicians are my first audience. It is their virtuosic interplay, comic or dramatic, but always emotionally charged, that is the musical theater my music presents to the listener. The sounds I cherish most are those that through the musician’s hearts, breath and hands bear the mark of their personal interpretation.
Chamber music is, therefore, central to me – I have written for the Bennewitz Quartet and Harry-Imre Dijkstra, the Skampa Quartet, Rosanne Philippens, the Bartók Trio, the Utrecht String Quartet and many others.
My chamber music for recorders has a special place in my work and is played in large numbers by amateurs. The CD Kadanza is a fruit of decades of collaboration with the best professionals who were often also the best teachers.
For me, choral music is also a species of chamber music. It should challenge and offer musical satisfaction to those many amateur singers – that I am one of.

My music features individual performers – to convey a thought, an emotion, and a story to the audience in a virtuoso and intense fashion.

In rehearsal and performance, the performers and I learn a lot from each other. Sometimes their improvisations are included in the musical story. Scores will always be adapted to their needs.

The interplay between performer and composer is absolutely essential in newly written music. As is the interplay between sponsor and composer.

Would you like me to rehearse with you or do you want to know more about a piece?

Do you want me to write a piece for a particular line-up or event?

Please let me know and I will contact you.

Besides composing, I lecture in New Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, with a focus on chamber music and music aesthetics. Some of the writing and thinking that I do there can be found in the ‘text’ section.