 Remains (2020).
Remains is the second album by Jolente De Maeyer and Nikolaas Kende, after Kreutzer Sonata (2016). It is a reflection on how the remains of the past inspire and influence our fast-changing world.
Both Stravinsky and Auerbach faced the difficulties of their time and society and chose to seek a future in a different world by deciding to leave their homeland, Russia. Stravinsky first became a French citizen in 1934 and, after fleeing the upcoming war in Europe to settle in America, an American citizen in 1939. Auerbach was still in her teens when she was one of the last artists to defect from the Soviet Union during a concert tour in America in 1991.
Although both composers found a unique, personal and visionary style in their compositions, often inspired by modern times and their new surroundings, one can hear how much inspiration they found in music from the past and in their Russian background. They were acclaimed for their style everywhere; Stravinsky became one of the most important composers of the 20th century and Auerbach is celebrated as one of the leading composers of the 21st century.
How different, by contrast, was Schubert's life. He never abandoned his city of birth, Vienna, and only received the acclaim he deserved after his death. He too dreamed of a better world, but was only to reach that place in his music. He built on the Viennese musical tradition and developed a unique style of composing, but his compositions were largely misunderstood during his short life. Schubert composed his Fantasy in the last year of his life, a year full of despair and rejection. One of the key elements of Schubert's Fantasy is a love song he had written earlier called Sei mir gegrüsst, based on a poem by Friedrich Rückert.
He must have identified with the bittersweet lyrics of the song, which have a thread of loneliness and abandonment. But whereas the song remains unclear if a positive ending is possible, the Fantasy itself ends in a triumphant style. Despite all the misfortune and misunderstanding that befell Schubert, a hope for a utopian world remained with him to the end. The music of all three composers inspires us to dream of other worlds, fantasy worlds with remains of the past. So do Henk Van Rensbergen's photographs of abandoned places. As the music encourages us to relive history, so do his photos and locations, as if they are snapshots from the past; freezing history in time.
 Kreutzersonata.
Programma: Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonate nr.9 in A voor viool en piano op.47 Kreutzer - Arvo Pärt: Fratres - Dmitri Sjostakovitsj: Uit 24 Preludes op.34 (arr. voor viool en piano): nrs. 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 en 17
De langverwachte eerste cd van het duo De Maeyer-Kende is een feit. De CD is opgebouwd rond de legendarische Kreutzersonate, Sonata nr.9 in A, op.47 (1803) van Ludwig Van Beethoven. Deze sonate bleek onspeelbaar voor violist George Augustus Polgreen waardoor Beethoven ze 'tweedehands' opdroeg aan de vioolvirtuoos Rudolphe Kreutzer. Ook hij liet deze sonate opzij liggen vanwege 'schandalig onbegrijpelijk'.
De Maeyer die door Klara werd bekroond voor haar 'technisch hoogstaand en artistiek inspirerend vioolspel', beheerst deze sonate helemaal met een volle krachtige toon, loepzuivere akkoorden en een dito intonatie. Het duo – ook man en vrouw in het werkelijke leven - is duidelijk goed ingespeeld op elkaar. Ze kennen het stuk door en door vanwege de voorstelling die op dit moment nog toert: Kreutzersonate. Als het verlangen maar stopt. De CD is aangevuld met werken die qua thematiek en inhoud aansluiten bij zowel Beethoven en de novelle Kreutzersonate van Tolstoi, namelijk Arvo Pärts Fratres en de Preludes voor viool en piano van Dmitri Sjostakovitsj, welkome arrangementen van een oorspronkelijke versie voor piano. Kamermuziek om te savoureren.
“ No limits to their musical sensibility ” > de Standaard
“ Poetry in every inch of their fingers ” > Le Progres
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