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Frederik Croene: Solorecitals

Holland/Flanders

Four Works,
Two Generations,
Two Nationalities,
Two Sounds.

A new generation (Van Eycken, Van Der Aa) uses electronics, an older generation points to a tradition.

Luc Van Hove, "Sonatine voor piano" op. 11
P.-J. Wagemans, "Het Landschap"
Stefan Van Eycken, "Campo Minato"
Michel van der Aa, "Just before"

Mozart Sonatas

Sonata n°.9 in a KV 310
  -Allegro Maestoso
  -Andante cantabile                                       
  -Presto

Sonata nr.13 in Bes KV 333
  -Allegro
  -Andante cantabile  
  -Allegretto Grazioso

Fantaisie KV 475

Sonata nr.14 KV 457
  -Molto Allegro
  -Adagio
  -Allegro Assai

Italy /Germany

Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988): "Quattro Illustrazioni" (1953) 13'
Luciano Berio (1925-2003): "Sequenza IV" (1966) 8'
Salvatore Sciarrino (1947): "Sonata II" (1979-1983) 9'
-
Helmut Lachenmann (1935): "Serynade" (1997/98) 20'
Enno Poppe (1969): "Thema mit 840 Variationen" (1996) 7'

Elk jaar wordt het duidelijker: Lachenmann en Sciarrino behoren nu reeds tot de klassieke kanon. De filosoferende, radicale Duitser tegenover de exuberante, welbespraakte Italiaan vertegenwoordigen elk de twee interessantste Europese stromingen in de hedendaagse muziek. Scelsi's meesterwerk 'Quattro Illustrazioni' en Berio's 'Sequenza IV' tonen de logische stappen in de uitbouw van de Italiaanse naoorlogse avantgarde terwijl Poppe's 'Variationen' een nieuwe Duitse avantgarde in de voetstappen van Lachenmann aankondigen.

The Twentieth-Century Sonata

Béla Bartok (1881-1945): Sonata (1926) 13'
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Sonata (1924) 11'
Alban Berg (1885-1935): Sonata Op.1 (1908) 9'
Leos Janacek (1854-1828): Sonate "1 Oktober 1905" 12'
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): a selection from his myriad dances for piano 10'


  The choice to bring together four pivotal composers of the first half of the twentieth century who composed just one sonata guarantees a fascinating story: the tremendous diversity of pianistic possibilities in a time span of roughly twenty years. Four sonatas relate with an unmatched spiritual intensity an archetypical story of good and evil. The listener gets the opportunity to be acquainted with clearly opposite styles of composing owing to the fact that the programme introduces the works as pairs. He can weigh up the two works in each case: complex impenetrable compositional labour stands next to a clenched elementary composition. Each work takes roughly twelve minutes. Between these monumental works miniature works are played, short elegant Viennese waltzes, in order to catch one's breath. Moreover, this provides not only restfulness; the contrast operates highly alienating too. Does the twentieth-century composition actually surpass the quasi-simplicity of Schubert? It is up to the listener to judge.

This programme gives a rare image of that fruitful episode wherein one just keeps up with the abundance of styles.


(see 05-03-2006 in Agenda) 


Sturm und Drang: The Classical Sonata

Wolfgang Mozart: Sonata n°.9 in a KV 310 (1778) 17'
Ludwig Van Beethoven: 'Waldsteinsonata' (1804) 25'
Franz Schubert: Sonata n°.14 in a, D784 (1823) 23'
Robert Schumann: Sonata Op.22 in g (1838) 25'

Inch by inch we follow the transformation of the classical Sturm und Drang into a fuming Romanticism. Mozart's balanced structure explodes with Beethoven, becomes dark and invoking with Schubert and finally runs amuck with Schumann's indications: So rasch wie möglich, immer schneller…und schneller. The enchanting allure originated in pianistic virtuosity needs to accomplish the expanding autonomy of the composer. Mozart condemns resolutely all surplus ornamentation, which needs to make room for a passionate rhythmicity. This rhythmicity heralds on the eve of the French Revolution the era of the individual. In his impressive 'Waldstein Sonata', Beethoven brings to a head this revolutionary belief in the integrity of Humanitas. The situation is completely different for Schubert in the year 1823. The artist stays behind isolated and orphaned in a Viennese landscape of contrived airiness that nips every belief in the resurrection of the enlightened spirit in the bud. His rebellion is hidden in an austere texture which suddenly yet fierce can explode but always is plunged back in a melancholy desolateness. The young Schumann transposes the Sturm und Drang to his own inner life. Overall, the sonata is an intimate diary that offers a detailed description of his stormy passions.

Cross Contrasts

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1828): "Waldsteinsonate" (1804) 25'
Enno Poppe (1969): "Thema mit 840 Variationen" (1996) 7'
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): "Sonate nr.14 in a", D784 (1823) 20'
Bart Vanhecke (1964): "Monodie" (1992) 10'

Four works: two everlasting masterpieces of two centuries old and two new, scarcely performed works. Poppe and Beethoven depart from an equal constructive composition principle: a by itself, developing germ cell realizes through an organic process (rhetorical/harmonic with Beethoven; following a biological rational pattern with Poppe) an impressive structure. The result is in both cases breathtakingly owing to the virtuosity and the hypnotising impetus of the rhythmicity. However, Poppe makes no distinction between discords and consonant tones. He abandons the laws of harmony that are for Beethoven a conditio sine qua non. The contemporaries Beethoven and Schubert differ immensely in respect to their approach of the piano sonata: Beethoven renews the outward but remains the sonorous classicist. Schubert renews the language of the sonata itself; he introduces a psychologically loaded discourse that manifests itself through contrasting concords and colours. Spent melodies and curt releases sense the borders of tonality. Vanhecke and Schubert summon mystical horizons through an obsessing focus on the physical guise of sound. The sacral atmosphere at the opening of the 'Monodie' creates a rhythmical complexity that leads to a climax at the end of the work. An identical bleakness in Schubert's work results in a static unity whereby the few eruptions seize the listener by the throat. Poppe and Vanhecke are also contemporaries, but again, also their approaches towards tone differ immensely. Vanhecke is in search for an intensity that departs from the phenomenon of sound and composes a strict traced out road, which leaves room for the sound to relate its autonomous story. The composing of Poppe guides and departs from a visual concept: the rhythmical alternation between left and right hand. Croene makes an effort to bridge a deep gap through the exposing of a few universal musical principles: those between the common accepted classical canon and contemporary music.

(see 18/01/2006 in Agenda)

Germania

Enno Poppe (1969): '840 Variationen' (1997) 7' Jörg Widmann (1973): 'Hallstudie für Klavier' (2003) 15'
Bart Vanhecke (1964): 'Monodie' (1992) 10' Nicolaus A.. Huber (1939): 'Pour les Enfants du Paradis' (2003) 11'
Dieter Schnebel (1930): 'Auguri' (1992) 15' Robert Schumann (1810-1856): selection of 'Kinderszenen' (1838) 10'

This programme spans a decade and compares a Flemish work of Bart Vanhecke with the works of two German contemporary artists and two tenors of the recent German music history. The 'Monodie' with a composition technique related to Scelsi stands by itself facing the radical conceptualism of the German music. The primitive violence of the young composers contrasts sharply with the whimsical craving for experiment by Huber and Schnebel, both firmly embedded in the theories of Dadaism, surrealism and modernism. The alacrity by which the new German generation claims the brisk sweeping language of the seniors is remarkable. This piano recital is partly an ode to the many contrasting faces that mark the postwar German music and enlightens two almost forgotten but still living masters. Simultaneously it offers the chance to enjoy both the rising stars of the contemporary German music Widmann and Poppe. At last, the seldom- performed Flemish Bart Vanhecke is given the opportunity to measure up to composers of an equal standard. However, the leitmotiv of the performance is Schumann who as nobody else incarnates Germanism in all its fickle aphoristic unpredictableness. The 'Kinderszenen', which are scheduled in between the contemporary works, invite the listener to enjoy the music open-mindedly. The treasures of the early German Romantic Movement sound refreshingly modern next to their echoes of nearly 170 years later.

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