Odysseia Ensemble
Franse Meesters
(French Masters)
C. Debussy - Première rapsodie
M. Ravel - Sonate pour violon et violoncelle
O. Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps
The brilliant harmonies, the archaic sounds and the hypnotizing rhythms of the "Quatuor pour la fin du Temps" upset from the first note. Especially if we consider that O. Messiaen wrote this work, real reference of the 20th century chamber music, in 1941 in the prison camp Stalag VIII in Görlitz. This is the end of time ! marks the quotation at the head of the partition, by the mouth of the Angel of the Apocalypse.
In his attempt to represent the eternity, Messiaen has seen his work taken in the timeless repertoire.
Next to this ample work, the Ensemble proposes the extremely intimate chamber music of the other great French masters, C. Debussy and M. Ravel, excelling in refined elegance.
Distribution : clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Scoop on tour
C.Debussy – Syrinx
A. Roussel – Deux Poèmes de Ronsard
C. Debussy – Le Faune
A.Fijan – Le Faune
C.Saint-Saëns – Une Flûte Invisible
Ph.Gaubert – Trois Aquarelles
M.Ravel – Chansons Madécasses
The concert begins with a blank canvas, where the fragile flute fives the first stroke. This touch is gradually transformed into an impressionistic image of the island of Madagascar. Through the musical sketches, we offer the public a palette of the typical affected French thought.
The short compositions, carefully selected, mainly concern the second half of the 19th century; in this period impressionism was prospering, but post-romanticism was still fashionable.
Distribution : flute, cello, soprano, piano
R. Vaughan Williams - Ten Blake Songs (5 songs)
L. van Beethoven - Duet no.1
B. Britten - Metamorphose no.1: Pan
R. Vaughan Williams - 3 Vocalises
L. Brewaeys - speechless song, beeing many, seeming one
F. Poulenc - Sonate
B. Britten - Metamorphose no.3: Niobe
L. van Beethoven - Duet no.2
R. Vaughan Williams - Ten Blake Songs (5 songs)
In the programme «Scoop on Tour» of the Odysseia Ensemble, the cornerstones are the miniatures of two British masters, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten. Ludwig van Beethoven and Francis Poulenc have also written nearly unknown pearls for small ensembles. The Belgian composer Luc Brewaeys has also triggered lively reactions with his composition «Speechless song, being many, seeming one», when it was considered too difficult as compulsory work for the Queen Elisabeth Competition. The Odysseia Ensemble confronts this work with the chamber music of neighbouring countries. This combination of solos and duets skins the music until presenting it in its purest form. So, the musicians give the floor to our country and to the unique place it occupies : Belgium, European battle field or unique bond inbetween countries? You will discover it in «Scoop on Tour», a concert which surprises, moves, unsettles and is not easy to forget.
This programme suits in the series «Scoop» and was created for the Concertgebouw Brugge.
Distribution : soprano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
C. Debussy - Pantomime (from Fêtes Galantes)
A. Jolivet - Sonatine
C. Debussy - Mandoline (from Fêtes Galantes)
F. Neyrinck - Schubert Echo VI
F. Poulenc - Sonate
F. Neyrinck - Echo de Baudelaire
F. Neyrinck - Stuttgarter Echo II
C. Debussy - Clair de Lune (from Fêtes Galantes)
C. Debussy - Première Rhapsodie
C. Debussy - Fantoches (from Fêtes Galantes)
“Pantomime” is a sparkling performance in which Claude Debussy guides us through a colourful and harmonious programme. The Lieder of “Fêtes Galantes” constitute the anchor points of this concert. Through performing all the works without interruption, the impressionistic colours are literally passed from one composer to another.
If we speak of sound colour, it is not surprising that composers facing Debussy are nearly exclusively French.
Beside Francis Poulenc and André Jolivet, however, the composer of Odysseia, Frederik Neyrinck, has his place. His search for sound and actual combinations perfectly integrates with this idiom and shows that this quest for new colour combinations is still going on today.
Song, flute, clarinet and piano already constitute the ingredients of a refined sound menu, and this during a one-hour concert.
Distribution : flute, clarinet, soprano, piano
Ph.Gaubert – Par un Clair Matin (from Trois Aquarelles)
C.Saint-Saëns – Une flûte invisible
M.Kagel – Der Eid des Hippokrates
M.Ravel – Aoua ! (from Chansons Madécasses)
J.Cage – Living Room Music
C.Debussy – Syrinx
M.Ravel – Il est doux (from Chansons Madécasses)
J Cage - 4'33''
Ph.Gaubert– Sérénade (from Trois Aquarelles)
Total Duration of the programme (with presentation) : 60 min.
The musicians of the ensemble take the children for a walk in the French musical landscape : delicate flute solos represent mythical beings like a faun or a nymph. Impressionistic scenes of Madagascar, painted by Ravel, come alive through the very beautiful ethereal vocal, flute, cello and piano sounds.
But the four musicians leave from time to time the French beaten track and surprise the audience by arising from such an unexpected corner that the auditor steps again in reality for a moment, … and then flies away to new dreams, to the beautiful Aquarelles of Gaubert.
A walk full of surprises that unleashes the imagination of young and old.
Distribution : flute, cello, soprano, piano
Le château
d'Esquisses
(performance for children)
Traveller's
Journey
L. van Beethoven - Duet no.1
R. Vaughan Williams - Ten Blake Songs (5 songs)
F. Poulenc - Sonate
R. Vaughan Williams - 3 Vocalises
J. Ibert - 5 pièces en trio
R. Vaughan Williams - Ten Blake Songs (5 songs)
L. van Beethoven - Duet no.2
“Traveller’s Journey” proposes musical travels of different dimensions. The auditor will not only visit different European countries, but will go several times through the history of music; this will result in a diverse programme.
The British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was very active in the early 20th century; he wrote a cycle of Lieder based on texts by William Blake. Here, it is not the usual piano which accompanies the singer, but the oboe, which results in a unique and very interesting dialogue with the voice.
At around the same time, Jacques Ibert and Francis Poulenc were working in France ; they opened the way to a colourful and virtuoso interpretation, thanks to their compositions for two or three woodwind instruments.
The pillars of the programme are the duets for clarinet and bassoon by Ludwig van Beethoven.
One century before the other composers included in this programme, Beethoven already immersed himself in the possibilities of the woodwind instruments, which is very well shown in these duets.
Distribution : soprano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon
Esquisses
Tricolores
