It was a quote attributed to Claude Debussy that got them thinking. ‘The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between them.’ What could that phrase mean, violinist Pieter van Loenen and pianist Tobias Borsboom wondered. In the discussions the duo had, several explanations surfaced. These led to an idea: wouldn’t the statement be a good starting point for an album? While associating, Pieter and Tobias came up with the title The Silence Between.

At first sight the pieces and composers – Igor Stravinsky, Tōru Takemitsu, Francis Poulenc, Kurt Schwertsik, and, given the title impossible to ignore, Claude Debussy – seem to have little in common. Four of the chosen works are from the 20th century, Debussy’s Beau soir (around 1890) already points to it. But for all the pieces it is true that they both have a relationship with something extra-musical – a poem, a memory, a fairy tale – and in themselves, away from their source, their context, remain relevant. For all of them, the sources of inspiration have steered the composition in a certain direction, but the sources have not determined the music. Without knowledge of the story behind the pieces, they evoke images in many a listener. If we do take knowledge of these sources, they offer a direction in which to look, give the music a certain colour, as it were. ‘We find that an interesting process,’ says Pieter. ‘Knowing the story in such a piece can enrich the listening experience, but it can also have an impeding effect; that your own fantasy or feeling in a piece is slowed down.’

Let’s get back to the title. The silence, which you can understand in so many ways, and about which you can talk for hours with musicians with a philosophical disposition – such as Tobias Borsboom and Pieter van Loenen. ‘The silence is about the moment of processing,’ says Pieter. ‘The composer creates the music while there was nothing yet. The silence is then like a blank canvas: an abstract space in which the music originates. He has written down notes from which the musician has to make music, from silence. The listener then again makes an interpretation of what he hears. There is silence in between that as well, if you notice the silence as space. This album is about that process, about interpretations of interpretations.’