About us

Hi! We are Teun and Teun, and we form an ensemble with recorder (Teun) and harpsichord (Teun) . Since the beginning of our study time, around ten years ago, we developed a deep musical connection and also a strong friendship. We can really say we had quite a journey together, not only figuratively speaking: our ensemble took us to many beautiful places in The Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Germany, Bulgaria... at the moment we both live around Basel, Switzerland. Apart from playing all around Europe, we both teach as well: Teun Wisse teaches recorder at the Musikschule Konservatorium Zürich and Teun Braken teaches basso continuo and harpsichord at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg.

The music

The project that we seek your funding for, was not solely born out of homesickness to The Netherlands, though. Dutch music of the 17th and 18th century is very dear to our hearts and we played it many times in concert. What we like about it so much? We find this music has a kind of simplicity or clarity of composition, yet is filled to the brim with effect and affect. Dutch 'no-nonsense' combined with Italian drama. Just very good baroque music, in other words. Music at the same time, that is not well known- very unjustly so, in our opinion.

The Instruments and location

We didn't wear wigs during the recording, and took a shower every morning. But apart from that, we made a real effort to submerge ourself in the soundworld of eighteenth century Holland. Teun Wisse played on recorders that are close copies after Dutch instruments of the time, such as the ones by Richters and Steenbergen. Teun Braken performed on a Flemisch harpsichord by Ruckers with a very charactaristic sound. We recorded the CD in the Zuidervermaning in Westzaan, a beautiful, small wooden church with superb acoustics built in 1731, that is to say exactly in the period in which 'our' music was written.

All these elements combined -the musical score, the instruments, the room- really made something 'click' for us, made the music come to live and allowed us, in a way, to 'let go': let something happen that we didn't completely control, a kind of symbiosis.

The Recording and production

To try and capture this little magic of music, instruments, players, and acoustics working together, which is not so easy, we were extremely thankful to be able to work together with the sound engineer Bert van der Wolf. During the course of the recording days, we had many wonderful conversations with Bert about music, sound and acoustics. Our main goal was to capture the something human, lively, and spacial. We, as well as Bert, believe this to be an essential aspect of music making.

The CD will be published with the record label Challenge Records. We are very enthousiastic about that, since this is a well established Dutch label with a sound international scope. We really look forward collaborating with them to bring this recording to life, and, with their help, sharing our love of this repertoire with a broad audience.

How will we use your support?

A recording like this comes with a lot of costs. There is of course the recording itself and post-production; the rent, transport and insurance of some of the specific instruments we used, such as the Ruckers harpsichord; the rent of the recording location; our own travel and accomodation; photo's for the CD cover and booklet... With this crowdfunding campaign we won't cover all the costs, but your support will help us to cover a part of it. We would like, of course, to offer you something in return as a 'thank you': from an literal 'thank you', via a CD in pre-order (the CD is to be released in June this year and we will of course get it to you as soon as they are out); to a house concert, where we will present you with the programme we recorded (or one of our other programmes, if you like) and explain a little about the music and instruments.

We hope that we could explain our project to you in a way that shows our commitment to, and enthousiasm for, it. Thank you for helping us make it possible.

Best greetings,

Teun & Teun