Elnaz Seyedi, "Felsen-unerklärlich" (2020) for 8 trumpets
performed by The Monochrome Project
Laura Vukobratovič, Marco Blaauw, Rike Huy, Matthew Conley, Markus Schwind, Nathan Plante, Bob Koertshuis, Christine Chapman

Elnaz Seyedi, Felsen - unerklärlich (2020) The Monochrome Project

Martón Illés, Réz-Tér, for 8 trumpets
performed by The Monochrome Project
Marco Blaauw, Nathan Plante, Laura Vukobratovič, Markus Schwind, Bob Koertshuis, Matthew Conley, Rike Huy, Christine Chapman

Recording of the premier performance during lockdown
10th December 2020, Kunststation St. Peter, Cologne

Martón Illés, Réz-Tér, The Monochrome Project

Noctilucent (Plus-) Part 2 by Ying Wang
performed by Marco Blaauw on double bell trumpet
design live electronics by Marco Blaauw

Recorded live to tape
by Julius Gass at Ensemble Musikfabrik
22 December 2020

Ying Wang - Noctilucent (Plus-) part 2, by Marco Blaauw

Milica Djordjevic, Phosphorescence (2014, trio for horn, trumpet, trombone

Milica Djordjevic, WERGO, Deutsche Musikrat

Milica Djordjevic, Phosphorescence

Julien Jamet, Glossomanie, composed and premiered in 2017, recorded by Marco Blaauw, double bell trumpet at Ensemble Musikfabrik, June 2019, sound recording by Stephan Schmidt.

Glossomanie is the production of a speech which components are chosen for their afﬁnity or phonologic relatedness - an obsessive preoccupation focused on language, which is examined in an iterative fashion. Thus the young children babil is sometimes qualiﬁed as a form of glossomanie. Prior to the acquisition of the meaning of words, he vocalize continuously, repeat obsessively, put together, play with the sounds and phonemes that he start to perceive little by little.

This particular state of language - pre-symbolic and essentially vocal - led me through the writing of the piece.

The trumpet is here mostly used with marginal technique : attacks alone, slap, air noises, spilttones etc. Without any obvious logic, through sequences, repetitions, transitory arrangements and ephemeral games the piece examine the scories (Schlacke ) of the conventional sonic production of the trumpet.

Julien Jamet, Glossomanie, for double bell trumpet

Marco Blaauw - Songs From Rhiannon

Liza Lim, Roda - the living circle, 
Performed by Marco Blaauw, recorded during lockdown on December 13th, 2020
at Ensemble Musikfabrik, Cologne

Liza Lim, Roda-the living circle (Marco Blaauw)

"Acidic Naiads" is a playlist of compositions by Marco Blaauw using an Extended Trumpet (trumpet with modular synthesizer).
These compositions explore various techniques of live electronic processing of trumpet sounds. 
This list is a selection of from long series of explorations, recorded during the early months of 2023 (mostly late at night, in a small enclosed studio). 
Each composition uses a careful structure, tonal materials and a pre-designed patch. The sounds were processed in real time, with various trumpets connected via clip microphones to a modular synthesizer. 

These explorations of these materials often brought back memories of Bodmin Moore, where I got lost during a long walk with my 12-year-old son 20 years ago.

Chaosmos

ETUDE XII

Moorlands

ETUDE XVI

This composition is part of the series Acidic Naiads, composed in April 2023.
Composition, performance, recording by Marco Blaauw.
This piece is played on a double bell trumpet with 1 clip microphone in each muted bell. The microphones connect the trumpet to to a modular synthesizer with 4 different patches.  Switching between patches happens with the 5h valve and a foot switch.
Produced with the help of NEUSTART KULTUR

Noxious Breeze

Guillaume Dufay (1400-1474) Messe Se La Face Ay Pale
Arrangement by Marco Blaauw, for 6 trumpets and electronics

Recorded in March 2023, Cologne by Niklas Werani 
Edited and Mix, Niklas Werani and Marco Blaauw

Performed by The Monochrome Project

G. Dufay, Messe Se La Face Ay Pale for 6 trumpets and electronics

Raven Chacon, "Call for the Company, in the Morning", 
composition for 8 trumpets, written for The Monochrome Project,
commissioned by the BBC and the Huddersfield Contemporary MUsic Festival.
Live performance at the Angelica Festival, Bologna, 
November 23d, 2022
The Monochrome Project:
Marco Blaauw, Christine Chapman, Christopher Collings, Mathilde Conley, Rike Huy, Bob Koertshuis, Nathan Plante, Laura Vukobratović

Raven Chacon, Call for the Company, in the Morning

Arvo Pärt, Summa, original for 4 voices, arrangement for 8 trumpets by Marco Blaauw for The Monochrome Project
Laura Vukobratović, Rike Huy, Mathilde Conley, Bob Koertshuis, Markus Schwind, Nathan Plante, Christine Chapman, Marco Blaauw 
Live recording by WDR Cologne at the festival Romanische Sommer, Cologne 6th June 2021

Arvo Pärt, Summa, arrangement for 8 trumpets (Marco Blaauw)

Juste Janulyte, Unanime, long version for 8 trumpets
The Monochrome Project, live @ festival Romanische Sommer, Cologne 6th June 2021
Marco Blaauw, Christine Chapman, Mathilde Conley, Rike Huy, Bob Koertshuis, Nathan Plante, Markus Schwind, Laura Vukobratović

Juste Janulyte, Unanime, The Monochrome Project

Luciano Berio, Kol Od, Marco Blaauw, Trumpet Live Rec

Peter Eötvös, Snatches Of A Conversation, Marco Blaauw, Double Bell Trumpet

second solo CD, published in 2006 by BV Haast, 

05 Luciano Berio, Sequenza X

Studio recording of TRUMPETENT, piece for trumpet quartet (Markus Stockhausen, Achim Gorsch, Andreas Adam, Marco Blaauw)and a tent...

Karlheinz Stockhausen, TROMPETENT

2014 -9 - 24 Warsaw Autumn festival, Filharmonia Narodowa

Tansy Davies, Spiral House

Recorded December 2004 for Solo CD "Blaauw"

Isabel Mundry, Solo Auf Schwellen for double bell trumpet

ZKM projekt

Agostino die Scipio, Modes of Interference

Polish premier, 28 Sptember 2019, at the Filharmonia Narodowa during the Warsaw Autumn Festival.
Performed by NOSPR, Ryan Bancroft conductor, Marco Blaauw double bell trumpet

Rebecca Saunders, Alba

In December 2014, Georg Friedrich Haas composed "I can't breathe" for solo trumpet. He asked me to perform, record and publish this work as soon as possible, as a statement on the tragedy of Eric Garner. This is a live recording of the first performance in the Pihilharmonie, Cologne, Germany. The composer commented: 
"...Eric Garner has become a symbol. He had double bad luck. First off, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But most of all, he had the wrong skin color. His crime: selling cigarettes. And being an African American. The police thought he was a bootlegger, and took him into custody. During this process, he suffocated. He was an asthmatic. His last words were: "I can't breathe!" Those responsible for his death weren't acquitted. They never even had to go to court. This was not an isolated incident. Protests erupted. The slogan "Black lives matter!" was carried in prominent demonstrations throughout the land. With this piece, I declare my solidarity with the protesters..."

Georg Friedrich Haas - I can't breathe, live recording February 2015

Stereo recording of the European premier of Anthony Braxton's composition no. 103, for 7 trumpets, and excerpts from composition no. 173, at the Ruhrtriennale Festival, 19 September 2018
the monochrome project
speaker: Lisa Charlotte Friederich
trumpets: Markus Schwind, Nathan Plante, Rike Huy, Matthew Conley, Callum G'Froer, Christine Chapman, Marco Blaauw

Braxton, composition no. 103, EU premier 19 September 2018

Juste Janulyte, Unanime (2020)(short version)
for 8 trumpets, written for The Monochrome Project,
multitrack recording during lockdown April 2020 by Marco Blaauw, trumpet

Juste Janulyte, Unanime, for 8 trumpets

Trumpet solo from 1991, published in 1992 by Askolta Publishing Houten, The Netherlands. Recorded in 2001
The title is taken from 
Rainer Maria Rilke, Vergers XLI
Puisque tout passe, 
faisons la mélodie passagère; 
celle qui nous désaltère, 
aura de nous raison.

Chantons ce qui nous quitte avec amour et art; 
soyons plus vite 
que le rapide départ.
 
Since everything passes,
Let’s sing a parting melody,
A song of our own making
That will quench grief

Let’s use love and art to praise our losses,
And let’s do it more quickly than what departs.
(Translation by Susanne Petermann, from the bundle “When I Go”)
 
Daan Manneke commissioned me to arrange his saxophone solo "Soyons plus vite que le rapids depart" for trumpet.
I happily took on that challenge but stumbled over 2 issues: range and multiphonics. The first issue had to do with melodies that went up too high for me to reach on the trumpet. The second issue had to do with multiphonics. I knew about vocalized notes but those didn't convince the composer. 
I introduced Daan Manneke to a sound that actually came from a lack of control: My sound would often crack in a register change or when I started a note in the second octave. The result was a split tone: 2 neighbouring harmonics from one overtone series, played at the same time. 
Daan Manneke was fascinated and encouraged me to cultivate that effect and use it as multiphonics in his piece. 
Is this the first score with notated spilt tones on the trumpet?

Daan Manneke, Soyons Plus Vite... Recording from 5 February 2001

Isabel Mundry for trumpet quartet, recorded by the MICHAELs TRUMPETERS, Markus Stockhausen, Marco Blaauw, Andreas Adam, Bence Horvath

Isabel Mundry, Geträumte Räume

Rebecca Saunders, Blaauw (2004) for double bell trumpet
Recorded in February 2019, at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, by Sebastian Schottke

Rebecca Saunders, Blaauw, recorded at the E. Vigeland Mausoleum

My first Solo CD, "Blaauw" (blue) released in 2004, was the first CD of my trilogy of personal portraits of the trumpet. "HOT" (red) from 2006, was the second CD, "ANGELS" (white) will be released this year at WERGO.

"Und dann, in den nächsten 70 Minuten, lässt sich alles erleben: Quieken, Quietschen, Hupen, Pfeifen, Röcheln, Singen, Schluchzen, Flüstern... Marco Blaauw beweist, das es für seine Trompete keine technischen Beschränkungen gibt. Oder vielleicht, dass die Weiterentwicklung der Spieltechnik und dadurch der Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten seines Instrumentes durchaus möglich sind." Katarzyna Kwiecien, NMZ

"A different kind of recording, a rich feast." Cadence

"Blaauw heeft met zijn fabelachtige techniek de mogelijkheden van zijn instrument opgerekt en gaf al veel componisten opdracht tot het schrijven van nieuw werk. Bijvoorbeld voor de door hem ontwikkelde trompet met twee klankbekers – twee trompetsoorten in één lichaam, met daardoor een groter bereik en andere ongekende mogelijkheden." Anthony Fiumara, Trouw

"E difatti BLAAUW del trombettista olandese Marco Blaauw è un lavoro staordinario, raro nel suo genere, prezioso per quanti vanno ricercando da tempo composizioni nuove e originali, per solo, di compositori di musica "classica" contemporanea." Alvaro Merz


Richard Ayres, blue

Toru Takemitsu, Paths

with permission of the composer this piece for choir was arranged for 4 trumpets and recorded in 1998 by the Michaels Trompeter, Markus Stockhausen, Andreas Adam, Achim Gorsch and Marco Blaauw

Popular tracks by Marco Blaauw