Wynold Verweij schreef een fijne review over het Leuvense concert van eergisteren.
Lees hier:
https://onlythesoundremains.com/machaut-en-kurtag-lijken.../
Quick english translation here beneath:
Machaut and Kurtág seem to be two peas in a pod
That the French composer Guillaume de Machaut composed his Messe de Nostre Dame around 1360 in memoriam of himself was not exactly a gesture of modesty. But that his life's work would be mirrored by the Hungarian composer György Kurtág (1926) was unthinkable until recently. Yet that is exactly what the vocal ensemble Graindelavoix and pianist Jan Michiels have done. And they proved capable of warming up the stone-cold Sint-Geertruikerk (°1220) in Leuven.
By Wynold Verweij
'Epitaphs for Afterwardsness' is the title of the concert – not free of jargon and somewhat angular. It refers to the fleeting nature of music that can only reveal its meaning if the listener is given the opportunity to look back at the time that has passed. And from that perspective, pianist Jan Michiels began with a calm, breathing interpretation of Kurtág’s Blumen die Mensche, nur Blume, an ode to transience, played on a muted buffet piano that sounded full and yet calming. Michiels’ opening proved to be the ideal stepping stone for Kyrie 1-2 from Messe de Nostre Dame, sung by seven voices of Graindelavoix, including conductor Björn Schmelzer. Countertenor Andrew Hallock and soprano Florencia Menconi occasionally took the lead, if only to make the transition to and from Kurtág as natural as possible. The compilers have succeeded in carefully aligning the nature of the Kyrie as a lament full of sin with Kurtág’s pieces. So much so that one might get the impression that he and Machaut worked on the piece together.
Around the mass movements that refer to the prospect of hope and redemption, such as Sanctus and Ite Missa, space was made for other composers such as Johann Walter (Christ lag in Todesbanden) and György Ligeti. Jan Michiels played the latter's thunderous L'Escalier du diable, in which he played as if he were running back and forth in panic in the staircase of M.C. Escher, looking for an exit. Michiels played both an upright piano and a grand piano. Why? Michiels: "The upright piano with supersordino is Kurtág's favourite instrument - intimate, concentrated expression that contrasts in our programme with the Ligeti frescoes on the monumental concert grand piano." The icing on the cake was Brahms' piano arrangement of the last part of Bach's violin partita Chaconne - for the left hand. Michiels alternated the harmonic progression in the stately motifs with dizzying runs across the width of the keyboard – a sample of breathtaking virtuosity. Add to that singers who walked vocally along the galleries and the magic was complete. The middle of the church was lit by only three old-fashioned light bulbs during the concert. More was not needed to warm and enlighten the souls of the listeners.
