Metamorphosis (Soundtrack) Holland Baroque

• Judith Steenbrink (b. 1977): Hypomixolydian improvisation:
• 1 Steenbrink: Hypomixolydian improvisation 12:25
• 2 Steenbrink: Hypophrygian improvisation 01:43
• 3 Steenbrink: Moorhen improvisation 01:04
• Allemande (after Johann Adam Reincken):
• 4 Steenbrink: Allemande (after Johann Adam Reincken) 02:21
• Improvisation:
• 5 Steenbrink: Improvisation 00:55
• Gigue:
• 6 Steenbrink: Gigue 00:51
• Puss moth:
• 7 Steenbrink: Puss moth 02:20
• Mullein moth:
• 8 Steenbrink: Mullein moth 01:22
• Serpent Song:
• 9 Steenbrink: Serpent Song 02:58
• Spurge hawk-moth:
• 10 Steenbrink: Spurge hawk-moth 01:59
• Sarabande (after Johann Adam Reincken):
• 11 Steenbrink: Sarabande (after Johann Adam Reincken) 01:32
• Total Runtime 29:30

Info for Metamorphosis (Soundtrack)

The music accompanies Pim Zwier’s extraordinary documentary (shown at IDFA in 2023), about German artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) and her love of plants and insects. Her study of the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies not only produced beautiful prints and engravings of this process, it was also the foundation of entomology.

The music for Metamorphosis is like the caterpillar in the film: strongly zoomed in and then enlarged. Holland Baroque recorded music played whisper-softly, which was then magnified by the historic acoustics of the Pieterskerk in Utrecht as well as the recording technique. This makes it very fragile and yet powerful: just like the caterpillars and butterflies in the film. Thus the soundtrack follows the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation, a moment uniquely captured by Pim Zwier. Holland Baroque chose rare 17th-century instruments such as the psalterium, serpent, viola da gamba, baroque harp, viola da gamba and period percussion.

In addition to compositions by Judith Steenbrink, the album includes improvisations and music by Adam Reincken, a Dutch composer and contemporary of Maria Sybilla Merian.

Holland Baroque

Holland Baroque
is an original and innovative Baroque orchestra. The musicians let their instruments sing, dance, cry, and laugh and use tradition, innovation, surprise, and a dash of entertainment in their work. Since they began in 2006, Holland Baroque has worked with many soloists, composers, choirs and theatre producers.

Encounters with soloists often result in warm friendships and unlock new worlds of sound. The easy blend of Eric Vloeimans’ velvety sound with the cornetto shows us that Baroque is now. This trumpet whisperer and Holland Baroque were awarded an Edison for their album Carrousel. Touring with piano virtuoso Leszek Możdżer proved that in a baroque orchestra as well the score can keep changing when the composer is improvising among the musicians. Cellist Giovanni Sollima has composed works for Holland Baroque. He could not have written something more Neapolitan: again, a tribute to the past and at the same time as fresh as a daisy. Holland Baroque and Reinbert de Leeuw became close friends during their quest for his truth behind Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Cherry Duyns made a documentary about this process, which was shown in cinemas for months. Bach in the cinema: a unique event.

Founders Tineke and Judith Steenbrink are the artistic team and beating heart of the ensemble. These baroque twins guard the ensemble’s sound, create original programmes, and rewrite repertoire according to Holland Baroque’s style. After years of musical encounters it is crystal clear to us: baroque can be found in many places. Baroque is now.

Holland Baroque has shared the stage with: Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Hidemi Suzuki, Amandine Beyer, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Cappella Amsterdam, Radialsystem, Orkater, Marco Amsbrosini, Dorothee Mields, Aisslinn Nosky, Toshio Hosokawa, Nico Muhly, and many others.

Wu Wei
is an avant-garde Sheng soloist. He has helped to develop this four thousand's years old ancient instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music, through the creation of newtechniques, expanding the new repertories and integrating different styles and genres.

Wu Wei studied the Sheng at the Shanghai Conservatory and was a soloist with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra before studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy with a DAAD scholarship in Berlin, where he is now based.In addition to many prestigious national and international competitions for traditional Chinese music, he won the Musica Vitale Competition, Germany, in 1996 and 2002 and the Global Root folk prize in 2004. In 2011 he won the Herald Angels Award by Edinburgh International Festival. Since 1996 he has appeared as a soloist with many leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestras under Kent Nagano, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gusta vo Dudamel, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chun, and many others….

He has appeared at the Berliner Festspiele, the Munich Bienale, the Edinburgh international festival, the Donaueschingen Musik Tage, the Musica Viva Munich, the Dresdener Festspiele,the Warsaw Autumn, the Suntory music Festival Tokyo, the Bartók Festival Hungarian, the Achipel Festival Geneve, the Cologne Triennal, the Holland Festival, Festival les Musiques Marseille etc., and at the Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, Suntory Hall, Tokyo, the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the User Hall, Edinburgh, and the Theatre Du Chatelet Paris etc.

His international engagements include appearances throughout the USA, Europe, Russia and the Middle and Far East, and he has given the world premieres of more than 150 works (including ten concertos for Sheng and Orchestra), by composers including John Cage, Unsuk Chin, Toshio Hosokawa, Enjott Schneider, Joerg Widmann, Guus Janssen, Tan Dun, Chen Qigang, Guo Weijing and Ruo Huang. He is also a prolific composer for Sheng.

Among forthcoming highlights are the French premiere of Unsuk Chin’s “Su-Concerto for Sheng” in Paris with the Radio France Philharmoic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chung, and a concert tour of the work with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and Myung-Whun Chung to Europe and USA..

This album contains no booklet.