Wherever the Rembrandt trio plays their concerts, audience members pick up on the special interplay between the musicians. Many of them ask the same question afterwards: If everything is improvised on the spot, how come the communication seems so immediate, how can the songs feel so complete? There is no real answer, except that it could be the result of having played music together for fifteen years. “When you have shared the stage for as long as we have, you become part of each other’s development, both as musicians and as people.”
Between Rembrandt, Tony and Vinsent – three musicians from the Netherlands – there is such a strong bond of trust that they feel completely free to follow their musical instincts and play what the music asks for in the moment. This level of trust is a very rare thing, and it is cherished by the trio.

After fifteen years of shared experiences, playing together in a variety of settings, seeking out new inspiration together in musical cultures from different eras and regions, the Rembrandt trio recorded their seventh album together with Just Listen Records in the sonorous space of a former church in Amsterdam, surrounded by antique organs.

Universal songs

While touring different venues all over the world, the trio discovered that some compositions shared a special kind of magic that translated wherever they were played. Often, the pieces were based on compositions and themes from different times and cultures; a Bach motif, a Chinese folk song, a whiff of Armenian folklore. Beautiful, strong melodies that touched audiences no matter their background or culture. Like fairy tales told all over the world might have different characters but share the same plot: What it is to be human. The trio decided they wanted to create these kinds of ‘universal’ compositions, keeping them concise and powerful – melodies and songs that have a universal quality, touching listeners far and wide. For this album, they dreamed up music with strong, timeless melodies to try and transpose into song what we all share – our being human.

Orgelpark+ Just Listen

Working together with the audiophile label Just Listen records, Amsterdam’s ‘Orgelpark’ was chosen for the recordings. This former church, now a haven for organists because of its large collection of historical organs, has very specific and beautiful acoustics. By playing in a building surrounded by these colossal  instruments, the trio was seduced to include them in their work(/process). Rembrandt, a descendant of two generations of church organists, felt his heritage come through, trying out the sounds of The box organ and the Sauer organ. The space itself, with its specific reverberations became another player in this band of three.

‘A Wind Invisible Sweeps Us Through The World’

The album title, taken from a poem by the 13th century Persian poet Rumi, tries to encapsulate(capture) the magic and universality of music, and how a shared curiosity drives the trio to travel and incorporate motifs, themes and experiences from all over the world into their work. The wind, air blowing through the pipes of the organ, the invisible waves of sound that shape a song – the driving force that inspires traveling, broadening horizons.