A portrait album of composer Bart Vanhecke.
WALPURGIS and Het Collectief have jointly released the CD Close my willing eyes, featuring works by composer Bart Vanhecke. The grand Close my willing eyes, a three-part work for 3 sopranos and 9-piece ensemble, which also gives its name to this CD, is complemented by solo works and chamber music in a variety of line-ups. The complete CD was recorded in deSingel's Blue Hall and was released by Fuga Libera in 2008.
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Sonnet to sleep by John Keats
TRACKLIST
Close my willing eyes (1999) on poems by John Keats
for three sopranos, string trio, three flutes, harp and percussion
I. Gloom-pleased eyes
II. Hymn
III. Scenes of bliss
Les racines du monde (1998)
for piano
Dans l'eau du songe (2005)
for bass clarinet, cello and piano
Tout près de l'eau (1995) on poems by Jacob Slauerhoff
for mezzo soprano and flute
part I
part II
Étoiles peintes (2000)
for string trio
La couleur du vent (1996)
for flute
Monody (1992/1995)
for piano
Serenade (1991)
for harp, two piccolos and percussion
"According to a persistent misconception about serial music, the systematic, rather rational bill of this kind of music would prescribe a ditto listening attitude to the listener. Nothing could be further from the truth! The rules the composer imposes on himself only apply in his study, and no longer in the concert hall. There, after all, Vanhecke opens the gate of his poetic universe, and lets the music - atonal and amotivious, yes - tell about the colours of the wind, the roots of the world and the brilliance of the stars. Who is willing to hear this, despite and thanks to the complexity of Vanhecke's music?"
With this paragraph, musicologist Jan Christiaens concludes his argument in the booklet of the brand-new CD of music by Bart Vanhecke (°1964). The fusion of seriality and poetry so vaunted in the text is probably the reason why so many performers have spontaneously started to explore Vanhecke's music. The fact that his compositions have also received striking praise on international occasions such as the ISCM World Music Days (Yokohama, Basel, Stuttgart) in recent years is therefore not really a surprise.
Surprisingly, though, no music by Vanhecke has appeared on CD until now.
Review
Bart Vanhecke (°1964) is a composer who likes to keep to himself, but who has nevertheless written an impressive oeuvre over the past 15 years.
The Collective, supplemented for some works by the singers of Walpurgis, brings together on this CD eight compositions by Vanhecke from 1991 to 2005, ranging from piano solo to a large ensemble with three singers. It is an impressive overview of varied, well-crafted and beautifully expressive music.
The character of all these compositions varies greatly, from the muscular attacks in the lowest register of the piano and the fierce gesticulations in Les racines du monde, to the musing, colourful sounds of the trio Dans l'eau du songe or the whispered, poetic outpourings in Tout près de l'eau (for mezzo-soprano and alto flute, which miraculously merge here). Transverse flutes and piccolos are remarkably often given leading roles in these works, betraying Vanhecke's background as a flutist, but this also allows the composer to resolutely break the stereotypical approach to that instrument.
The title track Close my willing eyes leaves the deepest impression. The large ensemble and three sopranos intertwine languorous melodic arabesques, giving John Keats' verses on night, sleep and death a breathtaking intensity.
De Standaard - Maarten Beirens - 28.10.2008
