The Treasure Hunt with Bas Wiegers

Bas Wiegers
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A personal account by conductor Bas Wiegers about how a musical score functions as a treasure map and leads to a concert, and many other aspects of a conductor’s life.

  1. 12/13/2025

    Shaping Matter, episode 2: David Dramm and the Craft of Louis Andriessen

    In this second of two episodes about De Materie (Matter) by Louis Andriessen, fellow composer David Dramm reflects on his close relationship with Andriessen and the creation of De Materie. He describes witnessing the piece’s early development, studying with Andriessen, and experiencing the premiere of De Materie in 1989 up close. Together with host Bas Wiegers, he explores the work’s signature elements - its hammer-like opening chords, mystical second movement, playful boogie-woogie references, and slowly unfolding climaxes - showing how Andriessen combined rigorous structure with raw energy, beauty, and humor. Music:  Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8

    52 min

  2. 11/30/2025

    Shaping Matter, episode 1: How Louis Andriessen Built a Musical Universe, with Jacqueline Oskamp

    In the first of two episodes on De Materie, we explore Louis Andriessen’s groundbreaking masterpiece with biographer Jacqueline Oskamp. We trace the influences behind this pivotal work - from the pressure of Andriessen’s earlier successes to the political and musical ideals that shaped his 1980s style. The episode highlights the piece’s structure, its bold musical logic, and the key collaborations with Jan van Vlijmen and Robert Wilson that helped form its distinctive character. We end with a preview of Episode Two, featuring a former student offering his own view on Andriessen and his legacy. Music:  Louis Andriessen - De Materie played by Asko|Schönberg and Reinbert de Leeuw  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nNB6P-Q3PRGxAlesE6MVMuv0s-JJmc6D8

    29 min

  3. 10/26/2025

    Recording Room Revelations: Finding Marton Illes' Voice

    Conductor Bas Wiegers interviews composer Márton Illés after two intense days recording Illes' new cello concerto with Nicolas Altstaedt and the Münchener Kammerorchester at the Bayerische Rundfunk.  They discuss finding a personal compositional language, balancing freedom and structure, the physical and acoustic reality of sound, use of electronics, and how collaboration and selflessness shape complex contemporary music in rehearsal and recording. The music played in the episode can be found here:  Márton Illés - Violinkonzert (2019)  Patricia Kopatchinskaja, WDR Sinfonieorchester, Michael Wendeberg  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzsGf8NebOg Márton Illés - Ljubljana24 (2018–20/24)  Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin Enno Poppe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1GbmfvlzKI&list=RDN1GbmfvlzKI&start_radio=1

    33 min

  4. 01/14/2024

    About Charles Ives, a talk with Thomas Brodhead

    I speak about Charles Ives with the great Ives connoisseur Thomas Brodhead, whom I got to know when we worked on Ives’ Fourth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra back in 2012. Ives is such a fascinating composer and has been a constant inspiration in my life as a musician. At the moment, I’m preparing his piece Three Places in New England, which I get to conduct for the first time.    Links to the pieces:    Charles Ives: Country Band March  President's Own United States Marine Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avowzDI8uR0   Charles Ives (orch. T. Grahl, 2021): Walt Whitman - (1921) from 114 Songs Klangforum Wien, Thomas Hampson, Bas Wiegers  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqnO8dJJPYs   Charles Ives: Fourth Symphony  Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Peter Eötvös, Bas Wiegers, Ralph van Raat Private recording    Charles Ives: March No. 6 for Piano, with Here's to Good Old Yale Charles Ives, piano  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMW0r_ZxFm8&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=41   Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 1. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbutHpwEh8   Charles Ives: They Are There!, second take Charles Ives, piano  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az0iNeRvNts&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=39   Charles Ives: Four Transcriptions from Emerson: No. 1 (beg.) Charles Ives, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c8lNFR5xWw&list=OLAK5uy_lE6Eb6U39_HOe_juxz9dJukRFRewUz3xs&index=1   Charles Ives: Three Places In New England - 2. Putnam's Camp, Redding, Connecticut Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Ytm0l0FTU   Charles Ives: The Unanswered Question  Ricciotti Ensemble, Leonard van Goudoever Private Recording

    32 min

  5. 10/07/2023

    With Theo Loevendie, preparing for the Concertgebouw Orchestra

    Today I'm spending some time with the 93 year old Theo Loevendie, one of the first living composers I worked with as a student. I'm coming back to his music after 25 years, to prepare two concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. We speak about his youth, his influences, and about the two works I'm preparing: Flexio for orchestra and Six Turkish Folk Poems for singer and orchestra.   Here's info about the music you hear:    Draaiorgel Sarie Marais - Appeltjes van Oranje   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOlWzqXXnY   Glenn Miller - American Patrol  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAVejLjXVdw   Umm Kulthum - 1967, Live at the Olympia, Paris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGHpBOt5sE   Theo Loevendie - Six Turkish Folk Poems   Dorothy Dorow, soprano  Residentie Orkest  Ernest Bour, conductor  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU4090D14hs   Theo Loevendie - Flexio  Residentie Orkest  Peter Eötvös, conductor  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYxMTfeEbFQ&t=412s   Theo Loevendie - Venus and Adonis  Insomnio:   Carlos Galvez, bass clarinet  Bas Wiegers, violin  Martine Sikkenk, mandolin  Reinhold Westerheide, guitar  Ulrich Pöhl, percussion  (private recording)    Photo Loevendie: Teo Krijgsman

    39 min

  6. 05/11/2023

    With Rebecca Saunders, on working closely with musicians

    I have a chat with Rebecca Saunders, who works very closely with musicians to find the sounds she loves. We speak about the new piece (Skull) which we have just premiered at the Achtbrücken Festival, but also about other pieces and musicians who have inspired her.    I’ve woven small fragments of her music into the episode. If you want to have a proper listen to the entire pieces, the links are below.    YES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuJLKb0Vwc Ensemble Musikfabrik, Juliet Fraser, Enno Poppe   DUST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA2P7PQp0OU Dirk Rothbrust, percussion    SKIN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkdODcg2Fmw Klangforum Wien, Juliet Fraser, Bas Wiegers   SCAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BriQ35IrGxA Klangforum Wien, Julien Leroy

    48 min

  7. 03/27/2023

    With Johanna Zimmer, on singing in very different situations

    For this episode, I spoke with Johanna Zimmer, a wonderful soprano I had the joy of working with many times. She works as a soloist, as a chamber musician, in the choir, in opera. We speak about this versatility and why she needs it in her life. We speak about words in music and how important they are for us as musicians. At the moment, we are working with the SWR Vokalensemble on a program with music by Ligeti, Feldman and Orlando di Lasso.    The music you hear, is:    György Ligeti - Three Fantasies: Wenn aus der Ferne  SWR Vokalensemble, Yuval Weinberg  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvJzdYziCic   Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel  SWR Vokalensemble, Marcus Creed  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGQe3NsuvfM&t=636s   Orlando di Lasso - Lagrime di San Pietro: il magnanimo Pietro  Ensemble Vocal Européen, Philippe Herreweghe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeHZQ83oFQM   Franz Tunder - Ach Herr, lass deine lieben Engelein Johanna Zimmer, Ensemble with Fabian Wöhrle, continuo

    33 min

  8. 02/21/2023

    A talk with Enno Poppe

    For this episode, I spoke with Enno Poppe. At the moment of recording, I am doing his piece Speicher with Klangforum Wien. We speak about deciding what ideas you want to put in a piece, Enno's love of idiomatic material and his close relationship to players, which is so important for the way he writes. We speak about the different roles we can have: in the case of Enno, he is not only a composer, but also a conductor, a player, and, of course, also sometimes audience. How does his persona change when his role changes? Is a conductor a different person?  The music you hear is:   Enno Poppe - Speicher (Klangforum Wien, Enno Poppe)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR_43dJWjFw   Enno Poppe - Augen (Sara Maria Sun, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Bas Wiegers)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkiG3uWah1s

    35 min
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A personal account by conductor Bas Wiegers about how a musical score functions as a treasure map and leads to a concert, and many other aspects of a conductor’s life.

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