Ralph van Raat

Is American music anything besides just musicals, wacky Cage experiments and endlessly minimal music? Yes, so much more! If you’re not completely convinced, you must take a seat in the omnibus that Ralph van Raat is driving in this musical voyage across the American musical landscape: from Los Angeles to New York, from the old ragtime melodies to the very newest contemporary sounds.

Particularly satisfying are the many little side streets that Van Raat takes that allow you to hear the awe-inspiring richness of American piano music. In the distance you can hear not only oceans and cotton fields, but snippets of Greece, Mexico and China as well – seen through American eyes of course. Contrast is guaranteed in this cleverly assembled potpourri.

Play and seriousness, concrete and abstract, accessible and stubborn, old-fashioned and progressive: you’ll hear it all. You choose, you lose; and if you don’t choose, hopefully you’ll lose yourself.

"Is it the composer's fault that man has only ten fingers?" – Charles Ives (Essays Before A Sonata, 1920)