The Treasure Hunt with Bas Wiegers

Patricia Kopatchinskaja in search of why we play

This time, Bas sits down with the extraordinary musician Patricia Kopatchinskaja - someone who refuses to stay in any box. They talk about why we play the music we play, how to stay curious in a world that prefers certainty, and what it really means to find truth inside a piece of music. Patricia shares why she'd rather ask WHY than play it safe, how working with living composers keeps music alive, and why she thinks the word "interpretation" might be missing the point entirely.
A conversation for anyone who believes music is not just notes on a page - but something urgent, human, and alive.
 
The music you heard is here: 
Enescu - Minstrel (impressions of childhood) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j3A7LqawvM&t=16s
Illes - Vont-tér Munich Chamber Orchestra + Clemens Schuldt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAbP1uJjPWY&list=OLAK5uy_lR_Q52Sgm9LQ_2ZC5FEYjRwt9d2FfiNgE
Vivaldi - RV 191 Giardino Armonico + Giovanni Antonini https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxLu5Ym9fNU
 
 
 

Shaping Matter, episode 2: David Dramm and the Craft of Louis Andriessen

In this second of two episodes about De Materie (Matter) by Louis Andriessen, fellow composer David Dramm reflects on his close relationship with Andriessen and the creation of De Materie. He describes witnessing the piece’s early development, studying with Andriessen, and experiencing the premiere of De Materie in 1989 up close. Together with host Bas Wiegers, he explores the work’s signature elements - its hammer-like opening chords, mystical second movement, playful boogie-woogie references, and slowly unfolding climaxes - showing how Andriessen combined rigorous structure with raw energy, beauty, and humor.
Music: Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8

Shaping Matter, episode 1: How Louis Andriessen Built a Musical Universe, with Jacqueline Oskamp

In the first of two episodes on De Materie, we explore Louis Andriessen’s groundbreaking masterpiece with biographer Jacqueline Oskamp. We trace the influences behind this pivotal work - from the pressure of Andriessen’s earlier successes to the political and musical ideals that shaped his 1980s style. The episode highlights the piece’s structure, its bold musical logic, and the key collaborations with Jan van Vlijmen and Robert Wilson that helped form its distinctive character. We end with a preview of Episode Two, featuring a former student offering his own view on Andriessen and his legacy.
Music: Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8
 
 

Recording Room Revelations: Finding Marton Illes' Voice

Conductor Bas Wiegers interviews composer Márton Illés after two intense days recording Illes' new cello concerto with Nicolas Altstaedt and the Münchener Kammerorchester at the Bayerische Rundfunk. 
They discuss finding a personal compositional language, balancing freedom and structure, the physical and acoustic reality of sound, use of electronics, and how collaboration and selflessness shape complex contemporary music in rehearsal and recording.
The music played in the episode can be found here: 
Márton Illés - Violinkonzert (2019) Patricia Kopatchinskaja, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Michael Wendeberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzsGf8NebOg
Márton Illés - Ljubljana24 (2018–20/24) Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Enno Poppehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1GbmfvlzKI&list=RDN1GbmfvlzKI&start_radio=1 

About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time. 
 
Links to the pieces: 
 
Charles Ives: Country Band March 
President's Own United States Marine Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avowzDI8uR0
 
Charles Ives (orch. T. Grahl, 2021): Walt Whitman - (1921) from 114 Songs Klangforum Wien, Thomas Hampson, Bas Wiegers 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnO8dJJPYs
 
Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony 
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Bas Wiegers, Ralph van Raat
Private recording 
 
Charles Ives: March No. 6 for Piano, with Here's to Good Old Yale
Charles Ives, piano 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMW0r_ZxFm8&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=41
 
Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 1. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbutHpwEh8
 
Charles Ives: They Are There!, second take
Charles Ives, piano 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0iNeRvNts&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=39
 
Charles Ives: Four Transcriptions from Emerson: No. 1 (beg.)
Charles Ives, piano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8lNFR5xWw&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=1
 
Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Ytm0l0FTU
 
Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question 
Ricciotti Ensemble, Leonard van Goudoever
Private Recording  
 

With Theo Loevendie, preparing for the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Today I'm spending some time with the 93 year old Theo Loevendie, one of the first living composers I worked with as a student. I'm coming back to his music after 25 years, to prepare two concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. We speak about his youth, his influences, and about the two works I'm preparing: Flexio for orchestra and Six Turkish Folk Poems for singer and orchestra.
 
Here's info about the music you hear: 
 
Draaiorgel Sarie Marais - Appeltjes van Oranje  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOlWzqXXnY
 
Glenn Miller - American Patrol 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAVejLjXVdw
 
Umm Kulthum - 1967, Live at the Olympia, Paris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGHpBOt5sE
 
Theo Loevendie - Six Turkish Folk Poems  
Dorothy Dorow, soprano 
Residentie Orkest 
Ernest Bour, conductor 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4090D14hs
 
Theo Loevendie - Flexio 
Residentie Orkest 
Peter Eötvös, conductor 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxMTfeEbFQ&t=412s
 
Theo Loevendie - Venus and Adonis 
Insomnio:  
Carlos Galvez, bass clarinet 
Bas Wiegers, violin 
Martine Sikkenk, mandolin 
Reinhold Westerheide, guitar 
Ulrich Pöhl, percussion 
(private recording) 
 
Photo Loevendie: Teo Krijgsman 
 

With Rebecca Saunders, on working closely with musicians

I have a chat with Rebecca Saunders, who works very closely with musicians to find the sounds she loves. We speak about the new piece (Skull) which we have just premiered at the Achtbrücken Festival, but also about other pieces and musicians who have inspired her. 
 
I’ve woven small fragments of her music into the episode. If you want to have a proper listen to the entire pieces, the links are below. 
 
YES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuJLKb0Vwc
Ensemble Musikfabrik, Juliet Fraser, Enno Poppe
 
DUST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA2P7PQp0OU
Dirk Rothbrust, percussion 
 
SKIN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdODcg2Fmw
Klangforum Wien, Juliet Fraser, Bas Wiegers
 
SCAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BriQ35IrGxA
Klangforum Wien, Julien Leroy 

With Johanna Zimmer, on singing in very different situations

For this episode, I spoke with Johanna Zimmer, a wonderful soprano I had the joy of working with many times. She works as a soloist, as a chamber musician, in the choir, in opera. We speak about this versatility and why she needs it in her life. We speak about words in music and how important they are for us as musicians. At the moment, we are working with the SWR Vokalensemble on a program with music by Ligeti, Feldman and Orlando di Lasso. 
 
The music you hear, is: 
 
György Ligeti - Three Fantasies: Wenn aus der Ferne 
SWR Vokalensemble, Yuval Weinberg 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvJzdYziCic
 
Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel 
SWR Vokalensemble, Marcus Creed 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGQe3NsuvfM&t=636s
 
Orlando di Lasso - Lagrime di San Pietro: il magnanimo Pietro 
Ensemble Vocal Européen, Philippe Herreweghe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeHZQ83oFQM
 
Franz Tunder - Ach Herr, lass deine lieben Engelein
Johanna Zimmer, Ensemble with Fabian Wöhrle, continuo 

A talk with Enno Poppe

For this episode, I spoke with Enno Poppe. At the moment of recording, I am doing his piece Speicher with Klangforum Wien. We speak about deciding what ideas you want to put in a piece, Enno's love of idiomatic material and his close relationship to players, which is so important for the way he writes. We speak about the different roles we can have: in the case of Enno, he is not only a composer, but also a conductor, a player, and, of course, also sometimes audience. How does his persona change when his role changes? Is a conductor a different person? 
The music you hear is:
 
Enno Poppe - Speicher (Klangforum Wien, Enno Poppe) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_43dJWjFw
 
Enno Poppe - Augen (Sara Maria Sun, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Bas Wiegers) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiG3uWah1s
 
 

Getting to know Chaya Czernowin

In this episode, I try to describe the process of getting to know a composer I haven't worked with before. To my great joy, I finally get to work with Chaya Czernowin. I try to explain how I get into her music, I speak to her about the music, and we listen to some inspiring musicians playing her music.