Early in the morning, the Oude Kerk is a meditative oasis in the city. Since 2017, on every first Friday of the month at 8 a.m., when the rising sun casts its light through the church’s towering windows and the neighbourhood slowly wakes up, visitors can enjoy the Silence music programme. The concerts celebrate the acoustics and space of the Oude Kerk, which invites mostly young, experimental musicians. There are no fixed seats; visitors are welcome to walk around and discover what the music sounds like in different places in the church.

On 1 April, a programme as it has never sounded before was heard at the Oude Kerk: a concert featuring compositions by two modernist Russian composers, Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006) and Alexander Raskatov (1953), performed by Tomoko Mukaiyama and an ensemble of eight double bassists and percussion.



Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya became widely known in the West through the 1989 Holland Festival, in the year of the fall of communism, now 33 years ago. 1973's 'Dies Irae' is one of her most powerful works, in which the music fills the church space with continuous hammer blows. Alexander Raskatov's composition contrasts with this: it is based on the richness of sound of Russian Orthodox church bells. 'All possible sound combinations between piano, percussion and double basses I will employ to bring these mysterious instruments to sound,' says Raskatov. Thus, two ancient elements came together: the 'Dies Irae', which sounded for centuries as part of the tidal prayers, and the sound of ringing bells, which in earlier times marked the course of the day.

Materials

Instruments

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