De Graaff: The Forest in April Maya Fridman, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra & Sander Teepen

• Jan-Peter de Graaff (b. 1992): Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen":
• 1 Graaff: Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen": (Prelude) 01:22
• 2 Graaff: Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen": I. Passacaglia 08:42
• 3 Graaff: Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen": (Interlude) 01:03
• 4 Graaff: Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen": II. Scherzo 08:23
• 5 Graaff: Concerto No. 4 "Rimpelingen": (Postlude) 01:27
• Concerto No. 5 "The Forest in April":
• 6 Graaff: Concerto No. 5 "The Forest in April": I. The Forest 08:45
• 7 Graaff: Concerto No. 5 "The Forest in April": II. The Echo Chamber 13:53
• 8 Graaff: Concerto No. 5 "The Forest in April": III. Requiem 07:26
• Total Runtime 51:01

Info for De Graaff: The Forest in April

For cellist Hans Woudenberg, De Graaff wrote "Rimpelingen" in 2017 on the occasion of his farewell to Asko|Schönberg, a work that was received with joy by the trade press. In season 2020-2021 cellist Maya Fridman was artist in residence at the Utrecht-based TivoliVredenburg. Through the artistic leadership of this venue, contact was made with the composer and a new initiative came about, with support from the Fonds Podiumkunsten. De Graaff was commissioned to compose a new work for Fridman, which was later titled "Concerto no. 5, The Forest in April".

In March 2021 "The Forest in April" had its premiere in Utrecht, performed by Maya Fridman and the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicolò Foron. Enthusiastically, De Volkskrant writes: "After a solo cadence that lasts for minutes, in which Fridman is allowed to indulge her qualities as a playing animal, a fierce battle ensues. Angular orchestral motifs alternate with the cello's seething dissonance. Even here the composer mixes the timbres so skilfully that beauty lurks even in the discordant sounds."

De Graaff: "In the composition, the relationship between soloist and orchestra is central as a metaphor for the relationship between man and nature. In 'The Forest in April' you can hear how the cellist influences the orchestra and how the orchestra slowly mutates into a monstrosity that collapses under its own weight. The work ends with a 'Requiem', in which the orchestra blows itself up, as it were. Lonely the lamento of the cello floats over the destruction of the orchestra. A deeply emotional moment."

In June 2021, the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra additionally recorded Concert no.4 "Rimpelingen". This time under the direction of conductor Sander Teepen, with another starring role for cellist Maya Fridman. In Vrije Geluiden De Graaff told us that he was inspired by pebbles crunching on the water: "Then I zoom in on the ripples on the surface of the water and on what's happening underneath, that's the ensemble. That's where a complete world emerges, which eventually fades out."

Maya Fridman, cello
North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Sander Teepen, conductor

Maya Fridman
Born in 1989 in Moscow, Russia, Maya Fridman is a talented young artist residing in The Netherlands. From her early years of playing the cello, Maya was recognised as a prodigy and was taken under the hood of the Foundation of Yuri Bashmet, where she took part in various TV and Radio programs. While studying at the Moscow State College of Music named after Alfred Schnittke, she was awarded as the First Prize Winner in the International Festival of Slavic Music among many other reputable awards.

In 2010, Maya has been granted admission at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where she studied under professor Dmitry Ferschtman. Here, on the 10th of June in 2016, she successfully finished a master’s degree with the highest honours, Cum Laude.

For the last nine years, Maya has been performing regularly in Europe, in renowned venues such as the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, TivoliVredenburg and the Vereeniging. Due to her vast musical interests, she always had a passion for improvisation and playing diverse musical styles.

Each of her solo programs has a strong emotional impact on the audience and presents great works of the last century, as well as completely new works of contemporary composers. She was awarded the Best Musician of 2013 Prize at De Grote Prijs van Nederland. Maya’s projects include successful collaborations with Jyoti Verhoeff, Aeon Trio (with Atzko Kohashi and Frans van der Hoeven), Tomoko Mukaiyama, and many more. During 2015 and 2016, she accompanied guitar virtuoso Harry Sacksioni on his Jubileum Tour 65 and joined bands such as Faun and Cesair as special guest. She toured with Asko|Schönbergs K[h]AOS, Noord Nederlands Toneel and Club Guy & Roni in the productions Carroussel (2017), Salam (2018), and Brave New World 2.0 (2019).

During the Cello Biënnale 2016, Maya performed in the role of Margarita in the musical theatre adaptation of The Master and Margarita directed by Dagmar Slagmolen, where she played together with cellist Kian Soltani.

In 2015, Maya released her first album The Invisible Link, featuring works of Alfred Schnittke, Pēteris Vasks, and Arvo Pärt, which she recorded together with pianist Daniël Kool, under the label TRPTK.

In 2017, she released two more albums: Elegy by Æon Trio with Atzko Kohashi and Frans van der Hoeven, and Red Velvet, a solo recording featuring works by Karen Tanaka, César Lüttger, Gaspar Cassadó, Oswaldo Golijov, Louis Andriessen, Kaveh Vares, and Alisa Apreleva. Both albums received international acclaim, Red Velvet receiving a Luister 10 award. A later album features her own arrangement of Prokofiev’s opera The Fiery Angel for cello and piano, on which she worked together with pianist Artem Belogurov. The recording received international acclaim, and was dubbed “… the best chamber music album I’ve heard in 20 years” by American magazine Stereophile.

In 2019 Maya released Canti d’inizio e fine by composer Maxim Shalygin, to great critical acclaim. The album was chosen for Dutch newspaper Volkskrant’s “40 Best Albums of 2019”. Later in 2019, she released another album titled REIÐ, with works by David Lang, Michael Gordon, Fjóla Evans, Giovanni Sollima and John Tavener. In 2021, together with pianist/composer Marion von Tilzer and author Lulu Wang, she released the album Ten Songs of Change.

In Fall 2021, Maya released the album The Forest in April, featuring two new cello concertos by Dutch composer Jan-Peter de Graaff, No. 5 “The Forest in April” written especially for her. The album was recorded with the North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra led by Nicolò Foron and Sander Teepen.

Maya was musician-in-residence with Gaudeamus in 2018/2019. In 2018 she was nominated for the Grachtenfestival Prijs, and in 2019, Maya won the coveted Dutch Classical Talent Award. For season 2020/2021, she was Artist in Residence at TivoliVredenburg.

This album contains no booklet.