On a Journey with Lidy Blijdorp

Two Edisons Lidy Blijdorp has won in 2020 with her CD Journeys: the Edison for Best Debut and the Audience Award. “On her long-awaited debut album, cellist Lidy Blijdorp drags the listener into highly individual, maximally colourful interpretations of works by Kodály and Ravel” observed the jury. We too have been thoroughly impressed by Lidy Blijdorp’s exceptional and individualistic playing style and proudly present her first solo recital in The Hague.

She opens with the Sixth Cello Suite by Bach who brougt the cello into the spotlight as a fully-fledged solo instrument. In homage to Bach, Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály wrote his Sonata for solo cello. Lidy Blijdorp imagines this overwhelming masterpiece as “a train journey through Hungary, past vast landscapes and ancient villages, with a variety of Hungarian folk music and gypsy sounds.” In Kate Moore’s Lidy’s Piece, she transcends, in the composer’s words, “like a bird into the blue light of the sky”.

The piece inspires her to conjure an unprecedented rich palette of colours from her cello. She said about it in an interview with NRC: “For a while I played a lot with cymbalist Vasile Nedea, especially in improvisation projects. That inspired me to get everything out of the cello: imitating the cymbal, or being a bass or violin at the same time. Kodály’s sonata asks the same of you; sometimes he makes the cello sound like percussion, other times like a hoarse flute. That is what particularly appealed to me. A cello is a beautiful instrument, but it can do so much more, there is such an endless spectrum of colours embedded in it. To find those colours, your technique is not enough. It’s more a matter of endless trial and error, just until the sound you have in your head actually sounds.”

Lidy Blijdorp: press quotes

“Play Lidy Blijdorp’s debut album and be perplexed. Anner Bijlsma. once compared music to Aladdin’s wonder lamp. The world behind the notes had to be revealed. Blijdorp passes this master test with flying colours. On her own, she throws herself into the dark Sonata opus 8 (1915) by Hungarian Zoltán Kodály. From hazy dream to fierce attack: Blijdorp can do it all.”

Guido van Oorschot in De Volkskrant

“Blijdorp opts for a reading that is not only wonderfully rough, earthy and wonderfully energising, but she also manages to evoke a deep sense of loneliness and despair in the Adagio con grand’ espressione. By playing almost inaudibly softly at times, she draws the listener completely into the music. Enchanting is the word.”

Erik Voermans in Het Parool over Kodály’s solosonate

“Lidy Blijdorp describes Zoltán Kodály’s solo sonata as “a train journey through Hungary, past vast landscapes and ancient villages, with a variety of Hungarian folk music and gypsy sounds.” Lidy covers all of Kodály’s rich colour palette to suggest the various folk music instruments, we hear bagpipes, whistles, cimbaloms and guitars passing by. A masterful solo CD debut!”

Hans Quant in Luister

“Real art is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible to as many people as possible is a benefactor of humanity.”

Zoltán Kodály