Monthly Archives: November 2019

During a festive concert in Amsterdam last Sunday, rising star piccoloist Ilonka Kolthof and Ralph have released their new CD Halo for the label TRPTK, for which Ilonka, through her Dutch Piccolo Project, has commissioned six composers to write new works for her and Ralph. In quite some anticipation of this release, Kolthof and Van Raat have appeared at radio shows before the release. These were followed by an excellent first review in yesterday’s Dutch national newspaper Volkskrant, praising the extreme diversity of musical characters, colors and virtuosity displayed in this recording: ‘[…] Ilonka Kolthof certainly did change the reputation of the piccolo in those 80 minutes! Kolthof never sounds shrill and she whispers with her instrument – so it is also possible this way. Her partner in crime is the unparalleled Ralph van Raat, who brings to the limelight, amongst others, Jan Vriend’s Sonata with much urgency.’

On November 7, a live recording of Daan Manneke‘s newest piano cycle Grote Archipel has been released by Zefir Records on CD and digital download. With each of the six movements written for specific befriended pianists (Geoffrey Madge, Kelvin Grout, Hannes Minnaar, Jelena Bazova and Daniël Kramer), the 80-year-old composer has dedicated the first movement to Ralph. Manneke’s piano music is of a deeply spiritual character, influenced by, amongst others, Bach, Messiaen and Stravinsky. Besides this first movement, Ralph also recorded Manneke’s only two other piano works for this CD, Polychroon and Blues for Marcel, thereby completing this anthology of Daan Manneke’s complete piano music.

Yesterday evening, November 3, during a live television broadcast of well-known Dutch music program Podium Witteman, Ralph has been awarded the prestigious award ‘The Ovation 2019’, a classical music prize which is awarded on behalf of the ‘Association of Dutch Concert Hall Directors (VSCD)’ to a musician, ensemble or orchestra who/which has delivered a most distinctive stage performance, and who contributes in an important way to classical music in The Netherlands. The prize consists of a sculpture by artist Iris Le Rütte, a placard and a concert tour.