What are the chances of stumbling upon an oasis in the heart of Europe? For this concert, whose programme is largely inspired by their debut album, the BECEL Trio seeks to evoke this astonishing curiosity. Thanks to an unusual instrumental line-up, the trio unveils the hidden treasures of the Belgian musical landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries. You’ll discover harmonies from the Old Continent blended with American rhythms, or Hungarian bells echoing Japanese poetry.

Programme 

- Arthur Meulemans, Sonate 

- Paula Defresne, Variations sur Harangvirag 

- Alain Craens, Oase  

- Wilfried Westerlinck, Huit Haïkus 

- Michel Lysight, Escape 

The BECEL Trio – flute, viola and harp – is a chamber music ensemble that performs classical music, which it champions and loves above all else. Its repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the most contemporary compositions, including works originally written for this line-up and original transcriptions created by the trio itself. The ensemble performs at festivals, concert halls (both in Belgium and internationally), cultural centres, as well as in schools, with the aim of sharing and promoting this rich and deeply human music.
Alyssia HONDEKIJN – Harpe
Gergely KOTA – Alto
Léonore FROMMLET - flûte

 

In the ceaseless quest for (Belgian) chamber music repertoire that has characterised Oxalys for so many years, we came across the small but magnificent body of work by the Liège composer Georges Antoine some fifteen years ago. Born in 1892, he passed away far too young on 15 November 1918, four days after the armistice. His long stay in the trenches had completely exhausted him, given his already frail health. Not only his early death, but also his compositional style immediately bring to mind that other Franco-Belgian composer: Guillaume Lekeu. A violin sonata and a piano quartet both represent the high point of their respective chamber music oeuvres.

One of Lekeu’s pupils, who also died before reaching the age of forty, was the Dinant-born composer Albrecht Huybrechts. He was admitted to the Brussels Conservatoire at the age of just 11 and left behind a body of work that, whilst limited, is nonetheless magnificent. In 1926, after receiving the prestigious Coolidge Prize for his violin sonata – which, incidentally, premiered in New York with the leading French pianist Alfred Cortot at the piano – he wrote a trio for the somewhat less common combination of flute, viola and piano. Huybrechts’ style lies somewhere between Debussy and Ravel on the one hand, and the modernism of Stravinsky and Bartók on the other.n the second movement, on the one hand, you hear French refinement in timbre and harmony, whilst the outer sections are more angular, rhythmic and earthy in their approach.

Throughout its history, Oxalys has also commissioned a great many works from Belgian composers. The Antwerp-based composer Bram Van Camp was, of course, a natural choice for this list. In 2017, Van Camp wrote *Mozart’s Dissonance* for Oxalys; a work intended to form the centrepiece of a Mozart programme. Van Camp seeks to explore what happens when Mozartian dissonances are detached from their tonal function.
 

IIn Mozart’s music, dissonances often arise as non-harmonic notes within a melodic ornament. They create tension, but are subsequently resolved into a consonant chord. Van Camp takes precisely these dissonant chords and asks, as it were: what if we do not resolve that dissonance? He identified around 15 four-note chords that appear literally in Mozart’s music, including their inversions. He then places them in a non-tonal context. This completely alters their function: what is a momentary tension in Mozart becomes an independent sonic element in Van Camp’s work. Van Camp deconstructs not only Mozart’s harmony but also his musical phrasing. He notes that Mozart’s phrasing often appears very natural and symmetrical, but on closer inspection can be surprisingly asymmetrical. In Van Camp’s work, this asymmetry becomes a starting point for the rhythmic structure of Mozart’s dissonance.
 

Programme

One evening, six composers, 100 per cent Belgian. Cantus Firmus Belgica brings together three Flemish and three Walloon voices to create a sparkling mix of contemporary music, uniting iconic pioneers, established names and extremely interesting newcomers.
Generations clash, colours blend, styles are turned on their heads – by turns raw and poetic, yet always vibrant. This is no mere chart-topping hit without substance, but a vivid snapshot of what resonates here and now.

Eén avond, zes componisten, honderd procent België. Cantus Firmus Belgica mixt 3 Vlaamse en 3 Waalse stemmen tot een bruisende cocktail van hedendaagse muziek met iconische pioniers, gevestigde waarden en woest interessante nieuwkomers.
Generaties botsen, kleuren mengen, stijlen kantelen – soms rauw, soms poëtisch, altijd alert. Dit is geen vrijblijvende hitparade, maar een levende momentopname van wat hier en nu klinkt.

Pierre Bartholomée
Studie

Siebe Thijs
Calciet II (wereldcreatie)

Jean-Luc Fafchamps
Lettre Soufie: Sh(în)

Lucien Goethals
Musica con cantus firmus triste

Erika Vega
Soft gravity (wereldcreatie)

Luc Brewaeys
Cardhu

SPECTRA
Filip Rathé, dirigent