Concertzender Live: LOW in Catharinakerk

Concertzender Live: LOW in Catharinakerk Part 1 airs on May 18, 2009 at 8:00pm CET. Part 2 airs on June 15, 2009 at 8:00pm CET. Recording and “live”-mix: Kees van de Wiel Text: Hessel Veldman As the result of an earlier project with David Dramm, director of the Muziekcentrum Eindhoven Frank Veenstra envisioned the final performance at the Heartland Festival as a Low concert, to be arranged by Dramm. Dramm recruited an extraordinary group of musicians to accompany the American indie rock trio, including the five singers of VocaalLAB, the Swiss organ player Dominik Blum (Steamboat Switzerland) and two percussion players. The Muziekcentrum accoladed the artistry of Low by making the Catharinakerk available for the concert: a venue with challenging acoustics, for which a sound system was specially imported from Germany. Dramm worked long hours during the days leading up to the concert on January 22, 2009 with all of the musicians, using a total of 60 instruments, taking the location into particular consideration in order to create this “Best of…..LOW” performance. Dramm demonstrates his mastery in subtlety. He demonstrates his respect for the open Low sound. And manages to emphasize the slowness and the dark character of Low’s music like a dramatist. At the opening of the concert, Dramm treated the three members of Low to a specially composed intro: “The Wheel Of Catharina”. The intro was played on the church organ by Dominik and sung and whistled by VocaalLAB from the balcony opposite the nave. The piece flowed seamlessly into “Amazing Grace”, and over the next two and half hours some 29 songs in all resounded in the church. The somewhat religious character of “Candy Girl” is blown up into Purcellian proportions. “Pretty People” and “Take Your Time” are welded together by strolling members of VocaalLab, armed with megaphones. Dominik’s contributions on piano and organ are clever. Both percussion players thoroughly familiarized themselves with the Low sound. Tinkling instruments, Glockenspiels, vibraphones, drums and even steel drums are used to great effect at the exactly right time. In a piece like “The Lamb”, in which playing out of synch is essential, the intensity results in a exasperating and even painful tension. The musicians conclude the concert with “Dragonfly” and “Murderer”. After more than two hours of concentrated listening, the audience finds its release in tumultous applause. But releasing this experience is impossible, and the audience will not let the performers go before they have given three encores, with “When I Go Deaf” as the apotheosis. David Dramm and Alan “Black Eyed Snake” Sparhawk send the audience out of the church and on their way with a sound storm of raging guitars.(hv)