Van der Valk, Series 2 Finale, ITV review - sleaze, corruption and skulduggery in Amsterdam

★★★ VAN DER VALK, SERIES 2 FINALE, ITV Sleaze, corruption and skulduggery in Amsterdam

Marc Warren grows into the role of the yobbish detective

Despite the jarring effect of having British actors speaking colloquial English while purporting to be Dutch policemen working in Amsterdam, the second series of ITV’s Van der Valk arrived at its third and final episode feeling as if it had reached its comfort zone.

Age of Rage, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Barbican review - shattering assault on all the senses

★★★★★ AGE OF RAGE, INTERNATIONAAL THEATER AMSTERDAM, BARBICAN Happiest in home-territory epics, Ivo van Hove pulls off a Greek-tragedy stunner

Happiest in home-territory epics, Ivo van Hove pulls off a Greek-tragedy stunner

Hunger for the gruesome horrors and euphoric highs of Greek tragedy seems to be stronger than ever. Yet when it comes to epic sequences, nothing in recent decades has quite had the impact of Peter Hall’s Aeschylus Oresteia at the National Theatre or John Barton’s three-night RSC journey from Aulis to Tauris The Greeks. Now Age of Rage from Ivo van Hove and his Internationaal Theater/Toneelgroep Amsterdam joins them in the pantheon of great theatre.

Music Reissues Weekly: Dick Raaijmakers aka Kid Baltan, and Tom Dissevelt

DICK RAAIJMAKERS AKA KID BALTAN, AND TOM DISSEVELT How The Netherlands created the first electronic pop record

How The Netherlands created the first electronic pop record

In 1957, popular music was given a jolt when the first electronic pop record was recorded. “Song of the Second Moon” was created and composed by the Dutch musician Dick Raaijmakers who was working at NatLab, the research laboratory of the electronics company Philips.

Blu-ray: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

★★★★★ BLU-RAY: ONE OF OUR AIRCRAFT IS MISSING The tense 1942 Powell and Pressburger RAF drama that salutes the Dutch Resistance

The tense 1942 Powell and Pressburger RAF drama that salutes the Dutch Resistance

The fourth feature made by writer-director partners Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing is not as celebrated as the six consecutive masterworks with which they followed it. It’s nonetheless a remarkably atmospheric film that outlined the shape of things to come.

Judith van Driel of the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam: 'the more we played Brahms, the more freedom we found'

FIRST PERSON Judth van Driel of the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam on Brahms

On approaching the elusive and unreachable in four chamber masterpieces

In every life there are moments of great significance. Experiences that stick with us and define our own personal story.

The Blood Pact, All 4 review - a (tax) inspector falls

★★★★ THE BLOOD PACT, ALL 4 Masterly denouement for third series of Dutch drama

Themes and characters entwine in the third series' masterly denouement

In Klem (meaning "clamp"’), we find ourselves in the calm, ordered and ordinary world of Amsterdam-Zuid. There are parents’ evenings to be attended, school plays to be watched. The area’s many pretty parks are just perfect for the early morning jog. Tall green bins stand in neat rows.

'You have to be willing to kill your darlings': conductor Clark Rundell on advice from composer Louis Andriessen (1939-2021)

'I SHALL REMAIN DEDICATED TO HIS MUSIC FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE': Conductor Clark Rundell on composer Louis Andriessen (1939-2021)

Fascinating insights into working with the great Dutchman, who has died aged 82

It’s taken me a day to try to find some words to share at the passing of my dear friend, mentor and guardian angel Louis Andriessen and I’m grateful to theartsdesk for giving me the space. It is such a profound loss because of the profound gifts he gave us. His fabulous music is deep, tender, highly personal and achingly beautiful but also funny, ironic, joyful and deliciously vulgar.

Ferry review - the making of a Dutch gangster

Netflix capitalises on trend of 'origin stories' to promote one of its own TV series

Success for the Belgian-Dutch crime series Undercover has led Netflix to produce an origin story for the show’s drug lord character Ferry Bouman (Frank Lammers). While this may be a dream come true for a portion of the show’s diehard fans, this formulaic movie is stalling, predictable and riddled with every gangster cliché in the book.