I think last Tuesday (not sure) we went to the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar to hear a recital on their organ, another wonderful 17th century instrument. Mr. Radulesco played a grueling recital of the Bach "Wedge" Prelude and Fugue, "St. Anne" Prelude and Fugue, the most recently discovered Bach piece (from 2007), An Wasserflussen Babylon, AND a work of his own, RESURREXIT. His piece was based on the Easter sequence "Victimae Paschali", and used lots of clusters and special effects. It was something that a lesser composer would have turned into noise, but Radulesco really did a great job with it.
Due to the secularization of Europe, most Dutch churches are shut down. I recall one professor telling us that one of the churches where we had lessons has a congregation of 8 people. The Laurenskerk is now an art museum and concert hall. The church has been completely redesigned - I said it's the only thing worse than what the Reformation did to these places.
It's a pig. Made out of chairs. In a church.
One of the last concerts was an "interpretation concert" where two performers played the same pieces on harpsichord and organ, then entertained discussion afterward as to why they played them as they did. It was interesting, although I found the Muffat fugue to be deadly dull on harpsichord. That and my last class were at the Nieuwe Kerk, which has a cute little organ:
And today, my second day in Paris, I just walked back from the Louvre to my hotel in the Latin Quarter in pouring rain. So I thought it'd be appropriate to post this picture not from today, but after the trip to Alkmaar last week. Due to missing a train, we all wound up in Haarlem rather late. Due to construction on the station, I had to walk 5 blocks or so to get my bicycle, and then it started pouring rain! So this is me much as I am now, after biking about 3 miles in the dark in pouring rain!
I'm going to really miss the great food, organs, and people in Holland, but France is looking like tons of fun! Stay tuned for updates!
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