Royal Treatment, Indeed

By Christopher Lade, Performance major–Music

Last Tuesday, January 29th, 2008, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra came to town on its US tour, and the following day, three of its members were kind enough to grace our campus for a couple of hours to give master classes in cello, flute and trombone. When I was asked if I could pick them up from their hotel and give them a ride to UCLA and back, I jumped at the opportunity, knowing that I could riddle them with questions about conductors, music, and what life is like being members of one of the best orchestras in the world. When I picked them up that morning from the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, that Wednesday became one of the best days of my life.

I arrived at the Omni to pick up Gregor Horsch, principal cellist, Jörgen can Rijen, principal trombonist, and Herman van Kogelenberg, flautist, at 10 am with all of them ready to leave and prepared to teach. Over the course of the next hour I asked all sorts of questions as we were stuck in traffic on the 10 West. Each of them answered with their own opinions and insights, and often struck up conversations and small arguments among themselves. Often one loaded question would strike up a huge conversation among the four of us, taking ten minutes to finally answer as I peppered the conversation with smaller questions. When I asked “Who is your least favorite conductor?” a huge roar of laughter ensued, and that question alone kept us occupied for half of the car ride.

However, what was so wonderful about the trips to and from UCLA was their general attitude towards music, life, and students who are interested in making music their profession. The three of them were incredibly kind, very intelligent, and extremely knowledgeable about music (as the three master classes showed to everyone who attended). Not once was there an awkward silence when I was with them, as I was extremely interested in what their profession is like, and they were just as interested in the classical music scene at UCLA and the United States in general. To be honest, it was an enormous breath of fresh air: here were people who could talk about music, how it moves them, what it means to them, how it affects their lives, without becoming shy, reserved, or even offended that I dare speak to them about music having the ability to move mountains and stare life directly in the eye. I took a chance on the way back and asked “What is the pay like when you are a member of the Concertgebouw?” Instead of wilting from the question, the three of them launched into an open conversation about how the government funds their orchestra, why they are petitioning for higher pay since other European orchestras are attracting the best musicians today, and what the pros and cons are of being in a European orchestra. The two hours that I spent in the car with them was some of the best conversation I’ve had in a long time.

I only attended the master class held by Gregor Horsch, the principal cellist, and I can easily say it was one of the best master classes I’ve ever watched and participated in. Mr. Horsch was a perfect blend of being kind and respectful yet incredibly critical, focusing on general musical issues as well as technical issues that each of the students faced. When Hillary Smith and I finished playing part of the Debussy Cello Sonata and he launched into teaching us, it was obvious he knew the score like the back of his hand: he was immediately referencing different editions, showing Hillary different pizzicato effects for the second movement, and telling me about the different articulations I could use for the piano part in order to be get the correct expression across. From what I heard from fellow students, the flute and trombone master classes were just as helpful. The master classes were scheduled from 11 am – 1 pm; each of them went well past 1 pm. After they were done, I raced them back to the Omni so they could finally eat a bit of lunch.

The concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall was quite an event as well. The program consisted of Strauss’s Don Juan and Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5. I wouldn’t call myself the biggest Strauss fan of all time, so this was actually the first time I had heard the piece in full, and I was struck by the orchestra’s incredible virtuosity, intonation, and overall sound. The extraordinarily difficult piece was in total control, Mariss Jansons (their principal conductor) knew the score as though he wrote it, and the oboe player was one of the most expressive musicians I’ve heard in recent memory. I was sitting next to UCLA tubist Zach Van Pelt, and both of us were amazed at how this enormous orchestra of 100+ musicians could breathe, move and listen as though it was a string quartet.

However, the real treat for me was the Mahler. Generally considered his most popular symphony, Symphony No. 5 is littered with all types of counterpoint, and the Adagietto is, in a nutshell, eleven minutes of perfection. Not only was everything tight, controlled, and together, but it was extremely expressive. Jansons knew all of the gestures, and his rendering of the score, in my humble opinion, was on par with Bernstein at his best. My favorite part of the concert was actually when the music wasn’t playing—Jansons waited for a full minute and a half before starting the Adagietto, in order to get the hall completely quiet and rid of paper shuffles, throat lozenge wrappers being opened ever so slowly, and the never-ending coughing that seems to come during the most delicate of musical moments. This type of obvious respect for the music was an example of not only his own artistic integrity, but also of the values of the three Concertgebouw musicians who taught at UCLA for those two short hours.

After the concert, Professor Margulis, who knew Maestro Jansons from his student days in Petrograd, tried to whisk a couple of us into the Green Room to meet him (where I was jokingly contemplating pulling an Alban Berg and stealing Maestro Jansons’ baton). Unfortunately, the security guard wouldn’t let us through, despite Professor Margulis insisting that all 15 of us UCLA students were his children.

The day ended as quietly as it began, as I drove back to UCLA after an amazing concert and master class, happy to have had the opportunity to be chauffeur to three incredibly talented and kind Concertgebouw musicians.

Cello: Gregor Horsch — principal cello, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; working with senior Isaac Melamed and MM pianist Sanaz Resai

German born Gregor Horsch, since 1997 first solo-cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg with Christoph Henkel and at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with Ralph Kirshbaum where he gained his Diploma in Professional Performance with distinction in 1989. Since then Gregor Horsch has been living in Amsterdam where he was solo-cellist with the Nederlands Balletorkest and after 2 seasons with the Residentie Orkest of The Hague.

As winner of the first Pierre Fournier Award in 1988 he came to public attention playing numerous recitals throughout the UK amongst which were his London debut recital at the Wigmore Hall, an appearance at the first International Cello Festival in Manchester, the Schubert-Britten Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and recordings for BBC Radio 3.

In 1989 Gregor Horsch was prizewinner at the Scheveningen International Music Competition and in 1990 at the International Cello Competition Gaspar Cassado in Florence. With the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra he played concertos by Barber (with Hans Vonk), Elgar (with Leonard Slatkin) and Schumann (with Alan Gilbert). Furthermore he appeared as soloist under conductors such as Yan Pascal Tortelier, Günther Herbig, Evgeny Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden, John Nelson, Raymond Leppard and Markus Stenz.

Gregor Horsch’s passion for chamber music has resulted in collaboration with artists like Emanuel Ax, Menahem Pressler, Vadim Repin, Isabelle van Keulen, Janine Jansen, Nobuko Imai and Bobby McFerrin. Together with Ralph Kirshbaum he was soloist at the worldpremière of Tristan Keuris’ Double Concerto at the Manchester International Cello Festival in 1992. Furthermore he played Dutch premières of works by Wolfgang Rihm and György Kurtag (during the Holland Festival 2005) and appeared with works by Sofia Gubaidulina during the Amsterdam Cellobiennale in 2006.

Gregor Horsch recorded chambermusic of Julius Röntgen (amongst which the Cello Sonata op. 56) for the label NM Classics, more recently for the label CPO the 3 concertos by Röntgen (to be released) and for Cello Classics 2 sonatas (with Carole Presland) and the Cello Quartet by Emanuel Moór. Since 1996 Gregor Horsch has been a sought after teacher at the conservatories of The Hague and Amsterdam. He plays on a cello by Giovanni Battista Rogeri (Brescia – 1711).

Flute — Herman van Kogelenberg, flute, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; working with MM flutist Penelope Turgeon

Flutist Herman van Kogelenberg was born in Thorn in 1979 and received his training from Willem Tonnaer, Abbie de Quant en Emily Beynon at the Music Academies of Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. In 1999 he was appointed solo flautist of the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2003 he has been a flautist with the Amsterdam Royal Orchestra. Herman van Kogelenberg is teacher at the Royal Conservatory at The Hague.
As a soloist he has performed concertos by among others Mozart, Reinecke, Martin, Devienne, Cimarosa and Telemann with orchestras such as the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory Symphony Orchestra at The Hague and the Charlemagne Chamber Orchestra in Brussels.

He also is an enthusiastic Chamber musician, notably with the Amsterdam Farkas Quintet. A recent highlight was his appearance in the Great Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with singer Renée Flemming

Herman van Kogelenberg is also a welcome guest with ensembles such as the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Ebony Band, the Viotta Ensemble, the Asko- and Schönberg Ensembles and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Trombone — Jürgen van Rijen — principal trombone, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; working with undergrad trombonist Ben Llewellyn

Jörgen van Rijen was appointed principal trombonist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1997, having previously held the same position with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. He earned his degree with highest honours studying with George Wiegel at the Rotterdam Conservatory and studied for three months with Michel Becquet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, where he also specialised in Baroque trombone with Daniel Lasalle. He also participated in masterclasses with Christian Lindberg, among others. He teaches at the Rotterdam Conservatory.

Van Rijen is a winner of the competition of the Stichting Jong Muziektalent Nederland (Foundation for Young Musical Talent in the Netherlands) and of various international trombone competitions.

In March 2001, van Rijen made his first solo appearance with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Henri Tomasi’s Trombone Concerto. He has also performed as a soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Marinierskapel (Band of the Royal Marines) and has given recitals at Festival Radio France in Montpellier, Lieksa Brass Week in Finland and the Musical Olympus International Festival in St Petersburg. He is a member of various chamber music ensembles, including the New Trombone Collective and the Ebony Band. Composers such as Jan van Vlijmen and Martijn Padding have written solo pieces for him. On 16 December 2004, van Rijen performed Berio’s SOLO for trombone and orchestra with the RCO. Following the concert, Medy van der Laan, then State Secretary for education, culture and science, awarded him the Nederlandse Muziekprijs (Dutch Music Prize).