**** review NRC: Mathilde Wantenaar's new orchestral work ‘Meander’ intrigued
- Mathilde Wantenaar
- Oct 1, 2021
- 1 min read
Pianist Yuja Wang, ‘artist in residence’ with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, played Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto with gurgling virtuosity. Mathilde Wantenaar's new orchestral work ‘Meander’ intrigued. [...]
Ominous Wantenaar
The concert began with the world premiere of a new orchestral work by young Dutch composer Mathilde Wantenaar (1993). Her Meander (2021), inspired by the meandering course of rivers, initially sounded slightly ominous. Beneath a minor melody, low pizzicato double basses suggest a threat from the depths. As the melody expands, the texture gradually becomes denser and woolier, after which the music almost overflows and then slides into lighter realms - an effect the composer herself describes as ‘the sun suddenly shining on the water’. [...]
