‘E’ de Esperanza

In the winter of 2022 I got a phone call from Leon Bosch, clarinettist at the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor. For a festive concert he wanted to perform my ‘¡Destino-Tango!’ for wind orchestra and bandoneon (in this case accordion) but it was too difficult for his (amateur) orchestra and he asked me if I could adapt it so that it would be doable. I decided to do so and make it into a fun feature piece for accordion and wind orchestra: ‘Tango del Oeste’ , with a virtuoso cadenza for the soloist.

And that is how I met Vincent van Amsterdam, a super virtuoso and one of the very promising musicians of his generation. He turned out to be a really nice person. After having worked on this ‘showpiece’ I told him I would like to write a more substantial chamber music piece for accordion, preferably with strings. Quite soon the opportunity presented itself when he was invited to perform as a soloist in a renowned concert series at the Vredenburg-Tivoli concert hall in Utrecht, the Netherlands. A series also broadcasted live on the national classical music channel.

That is where we started working together on ‘E’ de Esperanza ; he took the time to show me the ins-and-outs of his wonderful instrument and in the finishing phase to discuss and investigate the various registrations.

What also makes this premiere a special event is that it will be the goodbye concert for Astrid in ‘t Veld, accordionplayer and over the last decades in charge of programming all sorts of concerts, recordings etc. for the classical music channel in NL. In a previous life she gave me and my Aurelia Saxophone Quartet numerous opportunities to perform and record. So to be part of her last concert ‘in charge’ is a real honour.

‘E’ de Esperanza; ‘H’ of Hope’ would be sort of a translation but then obviously the note E plays a major role in this piece, and the ‘h’ does not… (in Spain and Latin America the note ‘E’ is called ‘MI’ by the way…) This piece written in a gloomy period of European history with a war at only 2000 kilometers away is meant to radiate some hope. A colleague composer recently said that:’our society is based on hope. and hope is but thin air…’ but I do not agree. I think hope is fuel and deeply human.

Guillermo Lago

Culemborg, the Netherlands, 18th of January 2023