Based on fragments from Lachrymae Pavane by John Dowland, Klaas de Vries’s composition seeks to transform the temporal distance between now and the 16th-century works written for the so-called “broken consort” into an imaginary spatial distance. The music of the past seems to reach us from afar (da lontano), like a fragmented memory — a recollection that sometimes fades, cloaked in a haze of sound, or is suddenly interrupted by contemporary bursts of percussive energy. The memory may shift as fragments of the old compositions are layered, broken into short, repetitive motives, or stretched to an extreme slowness.

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In 'Baldwine Close Ups', Martijn Padding explores pure polyphony in a substantial way, employing Renaissance techniques such as canon and palindrome within a polyphonic structure: harmonic language rooted in modality, yet framed within a chromatic context. In one of the work’s five movements, the intriguing life of 16th-century English composer John Baldwine is told in a playful and captivating manner.

Klas Torstensson focuses on the wide range of colors, playing techniques, and sonic possibilities offered by Black Pencil. His piece Colour Consort is both virtuosic and exhilarating.

In Heide Midzomer, Kate Moore reflects on landscape, tradition, and personal identity. In her imagination, music is inseparable from festivity, worship, and dance. This work bridges the traditions preserved in rural towns and villages across the Netherlands and southern England.

Roderik de Man, composer-in-residence of the ensemble, explores the concept of Heimat in his new viola concerto for Esra Pehlivanli — a reflection on Robert Schumann’s famous romantic song Aus der Heimath.

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In stark contrast stands the iconic work of Louis Andriessen, driven by mechanical patterns and boundless force: high energy.