Top 3: Rembrandt Frerichs
Jazz musician
I got in touch with Museum De Lakenhal when director Meta Knol called me, back in 2012. The museum had just acquired The Spectacles Pedlar by my famous namesake Rembrandt van Rijn, and asked me to play music at the Leiden Salon in the museum, inspired by this unique and small painting. I was very happy with the collaboration and to be able to perform in a museum, that after a year I started a project with my Rembrandt Frerichs Trio: De kunst van het trio (The Art of the Trio). With the three of us we now visited 14 museums, performing our concept of live music and new compositions inspired by the collection. I still like to think back to the birth of this project in Museum De Lakenhal.
This is my musical top 3 works from the collection.
Theo van Doesburg, View of the city with boat (1917-18)
As a musician I'm inspired by art movement De Stijl and this artwork is a nice example. The speed with which it is painted reminds me very much of jazz improvisation.
Stadsgezicht met boot (Leiden)
Theo van Doesburg
Dit werk is een abstrahering van de gouache Havenkade (met boot in het water en op de voorgrond een paard en wagen) uit 1917.
Read moreJazz and movement
Van Doesburg probably had the image of an abstract version of a view of Leiden in mind, when he transferred the image onto the canvas in just one movement. That proces comes close to what we, jazz musicians, do: you hear a melody or one of your fellow players hands you something, and you immediately start working with it.
Theo van Doesburg, Portret van J.J.P. Oud (1917)
Here I see a similar process as compared to my previous choice above. You could also interpret this work as Theo loosely exploring the shapes of what he has in mind. A process like that is going on in my imagination all the time, be it in tones instead of images.
melody and shape
Sometimes a melody comes to me, and for days I try to give it all kind of (cubist) shapes: up, down, upside down, etc.. Theo seems to work in the same way here. A lot of vertical and horizontal lines, and trying to catch an image with those lines.
room with middle ages altar pieces
The building of the museum itself is one of a kind as well. We had performed there with the trio, and the proportions of the room, the wood on the floor, the height of the ceiling and the size of it make it into a marvelous stage for live music. This concert stage potential is probably not the first thing that comes to other people's mind when they enter the room, because the monumental altarpiece of the Last Judgment by Lucas van Leyden immediately catches the eye.
biography
"Among the highlights of North Sea Jazz Festival", wrote Jazzmagazine about pianist and composer Rembrandt Frerichs (1977). A better recommendation is hardly thinkable. Rembrandt plays and composes in the front line of European jazz, thinks outside of the box and fills the stage with both improvised music and classically inspired pieces. He knows the American jazz repertoire, but chooses to walk off the beaten track. He is inspired by European classical music and Arabic music, instigated by a two-year stay in Egypt.
Frerichs made his North Sea Jazz debut at the age of 22. In 2007 his debut album was nominated for the Edison public award. He also presented his music in the legendary Jazz club Birdland in New York. Being selected a Music X Port Artist, he now tours around the world.
more about Rembrandt Frerichs