Numerous recordings, under such labels as l’Oiseau-Lyre, Decca, and

Channel Classics, have confirmed the group’s reputation as the world’s

most innovative and exciting recorder consort. Two of the recordings 

{Pictured Air and Bach’s Art of the Fugue) won the prestigious Edison

Award, with the jury writing: “It is the intense musical rendering, the

tremendous dedication, and the apparent enjoyment in the playing that 

immediately draws the attention to the music itself.” Pictured Air,

released in 1997, is dedicated entirely to the music written for the

ensemble; Art ofthe Fugue was released in 1999.

The quartet has also been involved in the development of recorders for

use in consort with other instruments. The group has assembled a unique

collection of more than one hundred Renaissance, baroque, and modern

recorders, ranging from the eight-inch sopranino to the sub-contrabass,

measuring over nine feet in length. In addition, Moeck Verlag has

published the quartet’s series of new recorder music.

The Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet appears at the Gallery by

arrangement with Schupp Artists Management of Port Jefferson, New

York.

Program notes by Elmer Booze

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

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2414th Concert

AMSTERDAM LOEKI STARDUST QUARTET

DANIEL BRUGGER BERTHO DRIEVER

DANIEL KOSCHITZKI KAREL VAN STEENHOVEN

Sunday Evening, 17 March 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
Tarquinio Merula

(1594-1665)

PROGRAM

Canzon: La Lusignuola

Matthew Locke Consort of Fowre Parts in D Minor

(1621-1677)

Fantasie — Courante — Ayre — Sarabande

Antonio Vivaldi Concerto in D Major

(1685-1741)

Allegro — Grave assai — Allegro

Johann Pachelbel Canon in C Major

(1653-1706)

Henry Purcell Chacony in G Minor

(1659-1695)

INTERMISSION

George Frideric Handel Suite in G Minor

(1685-1759)

Ouverture — Allemanda — Menuette — Grave; allegro

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier Sonata in F Major

(1689-1755)

Allegro — Adagio — Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach Fantasy and Fugue in C Minor

(1685-1750)

Giovanni Battista Sammartini Symphony in F Major

(1700-1775)

Vivace — Andante — Allegro

“Recorders speak in gentle voices, but their music-making can be 

haunting. In the hands of the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet,

these instruments sing with friendly, powerful persuasion” (Pittsburgh

Press). “Levels of perfection barely imaginable and certainly never

heard before... perfect blend, perfect balance, and compelling

interpretation... guaranteed to clear the most jaded palate” (The Recorder

[England]). “The quartet made the stars fall from heaven with their

playing. Their ensemble is as enchanting as their sound” (Leeuwarder

Courant). Such accolades are almost everyday occurrences with this

phenomenal group of young musicians. As reported by the German

newspaper Neue Westfalische Biinde, “Those who have not heard this

quartet do not know what they are missing.”

In 1978, while still students at the Sweelinck Conservatory in

Amsterdam, Daniel Bruggen, Bertho Driever, Paul Leenhouts, and

Karel van Steenhoven founded the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet.

In 2001 Paul Leenhouts decided to leave the ensemble and was replaced

by Daniel Koschitzki, a recent winner of the prestigious Moeck

Competition. The quartet’s efforts toward exploring the boundaries of

the recorder consort were rewarded at the 1981 Musica Antiqua

Competition in Bruges when they emerged as the winners of the

competition, after challenging the rules with the performance of an 

unusual arrangement of a Stevie Wonder song. In addition to the award,

the quartet won the recognition ofthe wider public as a serious ensemble

of unparalleled virtuosity.

Today the quartet enjoys an international career with performances

at the early music festivals of Berlin, Utrecht, London, Barcelona,

Boston, San Antonio, and Berkeley, among others, as well as regular

tours throughout Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and

Japan. In addition to the “classic” consort music of the Renaissance and

baroque periods, the quartet’s repertoire includes significant works ofthe

twentieth century. Since many composers have been inspired to write for

the quartet, a new repertoire has been created that proves the recorder to

be an important voice of our time.