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In may 2011 I was asked by Channel Classics to record a SACD with duo sonatas by W.A. Mozart and Michael Haydn played by Rachel Podger and Jane Rodgers. Together with producer Jonathan Freeman-Attwood we spent some days working on the project in All Saints Church, East Finchley, London. The elegant and lively duo sonatas are a delightful example of the craftsmanship that Mozart and Michael Haydn had in writing for these instruments. In a YouTube video Rachel is telling about the sonatas and you will see a glimpse of the recording sessions.

The recording was made with the Channel Classics DSD set including Rens Heijnis custom built analogue equipment and a DSD AD converter by Grimm Audio.

Please find more info about this project on the website of Channel Classics Records. For high resolution downloads of this recording click here.

Project info:

Recording venue: All Saints Church, East Finchley, London

Recording producer: Jonathan Freeman-Attwood

Recording and Balance Engineer: Daan van Aalst

Editing and Mastering: C. Jared Sacks

The Netherlands String Quartet Academy, NSKA, celebrates its ten year anniversary in 2011. Because of this special occasion the Ragazze Quartet was invited to make a recording for the jubilee CD release of the academy. The recording took place in Schiedam where we worked on string quartets by Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) and Bela Bartók (1881-1945). This program is a good example of what the quartet writes on their own website: ‘We explore a wide variety of repertoire, from Baroque to contemporary, including the core quartet works.‘

The quartet made an interesting choice by using baroque bows for the Boccherini Quartet (g major opus 32, no 5) and modern bows for Bartóks first string quartet. The result is a very vivid and exciting atmosphere for Boccherini and a truly colorful Bartok interpretation.

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This promotional video shows the Ragazze Quartet and the recording team with producer Wilhelm Hellweg and me as balance engineer during the recording .

For more information about the Ragazze Quartet please visit their website. Read more about the Netherlands String Quartet Academy and its recent projects on the website.

Project info:

Recording venue: Westvest Church, Schiedam

Recording producer: Wilhelm Hellweg

Recording Engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst

A colorful program on the new CD of Naomi Tamura ‘Un Amour de Piano’. A well chosen mix of German, French and Russian composers makes this album a composition of its own.

This first solo recording of Naomi Tamura was made in September 2010 in Haarlem. After a period of searching for the right hall and the right instrument Naomi decided to use her own Steinway D for the recording at the “Doopsgezinde” Church in Haarlem.

Michel Brandjes worked with Naomi on the instrument in order to prepare it for the recording. The character of the instrument is very warm, almost dark and that matches the quite transparent and diffuse acoustics of the church very well.

recording setup (photo: Daan van Aalst)

Church window (Photo: Daan van Aalst)

Project info:

Recording venue: Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem

Recording Producer: Daan van Aalst

Recording Engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst

Piano tuner: Michel Brandjes

Schumann’s sonata in a minor opus 105 for Violin is warmly embraced by cellists. Harro Ruijsenaars decided to record this  sonata together with the sonata opus 121 in d minor. He made his own transcription of the two sonatas that follows the original violin text as much as possible. Beside the two sonatas, that give a great insight in Schumann’s musical language, Harro and Paul also recorded the beautiful Romances opus 94.

“If the violin sonatas, difficult, but without the element of virtuosity, might lack challenge for a violin player, they certainly are a handful for a cellist. But the strength of the musical narrative made me happily explore the limits of cello technique to master these great sonatas that had fascinated me for years.”

”Transcribing and recording the two Violin Sonatas op. 105 and op.121 has given immense satisfaction.”

(Harro Ruijsenaars, Liner Notes from CD booklet)

The recording sessions in the winter of 2009 took place in Valthermond (Onder de Linden).

Project info:

Recording venue: ‘Onder de Linden’, Valthermond

Recording Producer: Daan van Aalst

Recording Engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst

Piano tuner: Erik van der Heide

In 2007, Filip Davidse (Saxophone) and Naomi Tamura (Piano) invited me to work with them on their recording of ‘The Soviet Saxophone’. A very interesting concept since the saxophone was a ‘suspicious’ instrument in the former Soviet Union. In the late nineteen sixties and seventies a group of young composers formed the ‘Association for Contemporary Music’ (ACM). This group of composers focused on the musical developments in the west. One can imagine that this was not stimulated by the government but still they managed to organize their own concerts and gatherings to talk about music. The group also invited musicians like Pierre Boulez from the west to share their thoughts and music. At the beginning of the nineties most of the composers from the ACM moved to western countries like England and Canada.

On this disc you will find not only pieces from ACM composers (Dmitri Smirnov, Vladislav Shoot, Faradj Karayev and Nikolaj Korndorf) but also the Sonata no 2 opus 94 by Sergei Prokofiev. This sonata was composed for Flute and Piano, later transcribed for the violin and now played on saxophone!

Ik was a great pleasure to work with Filip and Naomi and to experience the creativity and sometimes surprising musical effects in the music of the ACM composers. We recorded the CD in the Bethaniënklooster in Amsterdam. Located at one of the dark and narrow streets of the red light district this concert hall organizes concerts and other cultural activities.

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Recording Location: Bethaniënklooster, Amsterdam

Recording Producer: Daan van Aalst, Filip Davidse

Recording engineer and editing: Daan van Aalst

Special thanks to Frits Vroom

Dear Visitor,

welcome to my new weblog! On this weblog I will write on a regular basis about my recording projects. If you are looking for more info about me, please visit my website: www.daanvanaalst.com

On this website you will find an overview of my projects and you will also find some audio samples.

I hope you will enjoy both the website and this new weblog!

Daan