Ars Musica 2007 Brussels (3) Eggert, Gobert, Bartholomée, Viñao : Musiques Nouvelles, Mark Foster (conductor) Théâtre Marni, Brussels 14.03 2007 (HC)

 

Moritz Eggert : pong

Gilles Gibert : Pièce pour piano, quatuor à cordes et percussions

Pierre Bartholomée : 7 x 7

Alejandro Viñao : Colisión y Momento

 

This is a typical Ars Musica concert, with two world premieres as well as two Belgian premieres. The pieces by Gilles Gobert and by Pierre Bartholomée were jointly commissioned by the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, incidentally founded by Bartholomée many years ago, and by Ars Musica.

The concert opened with Moritz Eggert’s pong (2002) for seven players (flute, clarinet, piano and string quartet). The title alludes to one of very first video games, and the music actually imitates some game of ping-pong by way of short fragments being tossed from one instrument to the other. This is the sort of music that requires some considerable concentration on the players’ part if it is to make its effect. This was brilliantly achieved in this performance. The work as such was great fun indeed, but I must confess that it left me rather cold, although I much admired the players’ perfect co-ordination.

Gilles Gobert (born 1971) is a young Belgian composer who studied with Claude Ledoux among others as well as attending master classes with Lachenmann, Murail, Lindberg and Harvey. He also worked at IRCAM in Paris. He is quite active in the field of electronic music, and this in turn influences his works for live instruments. The instrumental line-up of his new piece was quite appealing and promised much; but I was not able to respond wholeheartedly to it, principally because I think that he could have made some better use of the ensemble, particularly the percussion. However, there were some nice ideas here, and this is a work that I would like to hear again.

Seventy this year, Pierre Bartholomée has been quite active as pianist and conductor as well as composer. He founded Musiques Nouvelles and gave many performances of modern music. He was musical director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège for nearly twenty years, and again conducted many important 20^th century scores by Pousseur, Boesmans, Xenakis and Takemitsu as well as by younger Belgian composers. Since his retirement a few years ago, he resumed composing and his output has grown considerably, including now two operas and quite a number of chamber works. His 7 x 7 is scored for seven instruments (cor anglais, trumpet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and cello) and consists of seven short character sketches. The whole makes-up for an agreeably varied suite with many nicely judged touches. Particularly noteworthy is the second movement Molto lento for trumpet and cor anglais.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1951, Alejandro Viñao studied at the Royal College of Music and the London City University, and is now resident in London, if I am not mistaken. His Colisión y Momento (2002/4) too, is scored for seven instruments (flute, clarinet, string quartet and piano). I do not know much of his music, but this work is quite engaging for the composer seems to rely on lively South American rhythms, although his music is light years away from, say, Ginastera or Villa Lobos. His music is clearly of its time, but remains very attractive and quite enjoyable. This lively work provided for a quite pleasant conclusion to a somewhat mixed and uneven concert.

 

Hubert Culot