children (youth) choir, soprano saxophone, marimba & double bass 4′
Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei
(National Committee 4th and 5th of May: National Remembrance Day and National Liberation Day in the Netherlands)
Dutch National Youth Choir, Wilma ten Wolde conducting, Sax & Stix (Eva van Grinsven – saxophones, Ramon Lormans – percussion), Wilmar de Visser – double bass, National Remembrance at the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 4th of May 2011
Guillermo Lago
Score and parts (PDF) available on this website for free
Every year a dutch composer (or composer residing in the Netherlands) is asked to write a composition for National Memorial Day to be premiered in the Nieuwe Kerk in presence of HRH Queen Beatrix, members of Parliament etc. , thus commemorating the victims of war in the Netherlands and abroad. In 2011 this honour fell on Lago. ‘Bloemen in Stilte’ is based on texts by schoolchildren and the silence is the two minute silence that is kept nationwide on the 4th of May at 8 pm. The music is not overcomplicated and intentionally so because it has to be singable by amateur children choirs.