From the global program package deSingel distils a festival every month, ranging from small to large. From 1 to 4 February, that was MYSTERIA. Artists bring the audience into contact — both visually and aurally — with the mysterious, the mystical, the intangible. And whether there is interest in this secularised society!
Friday evening full house. In the Red Hall stands the dance production Mysterie Sonatas / for Rosa in which Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker links the motif of the rose — since time immemorial the symbol of mystery — with the Baroque Rosary Sonatas by Heinrich Biber. In the Blue Hall a restrained, at times ethereal concert with compositions by Dmitri Shostakovich, Johann Sebastian Bach and Arvo Pärt. The performers were Ralph van Raat on piano and Sylvia Huang on violin.
With great fascination for the oeuvre of Arvo Pärt, I chose this time not for a dance performance but for the concert.
MYSTERIA
Ralph van Raat also has a passion for the Estonian composer. In this concert he traverses the world of Pärt, as it extends between brutal avant-garde and sweet 'tintinnabuli'. There are also excursions to Bach and Shostakovich, both of whom had a major influence on Pärt's development. Ralph van Raat takes the largest part of the concert for his account. In some compositions Sylvia Huang also participates.
As opening work: Prelude and Fugue no. 18 in f, opus 87 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) from a cycle of piano pieces following The Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach. Followed by Sonatine for piano no. 1, opus 1/2, Sonatine for piano no. 2, opus 2/2 and Partita for piano, opus 2 by Arvo Pärt (°1935). Compositions from the early period of his career when he was still searching and was influenced by among others Béla Bartók, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. He liked to experiment with various compositional techniques. Ralph van Raat has a restrained way of playing, the pearling sound of the piano does the rest. As the third work before the intermission comes great master Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) with his Sonata for piano and violin no. 6 in G, BWV 1019. Since she won the Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin in May 2019 and received the Cecilia Prize for Young Musicians that same year, the musical career of young Sylvia Huang has been on the rise. Bach's music has both an aura of magic and a divine form. One of the most original characteristics of the Sonatas for violin and piano no. 6 in G, BWV 1019 is Bach's imagination in harmonic, melodic and contrapuntal terms. The right hand of the pianist and the violin must constantly answer each other, while the basso continuo is entrusted to the left hand of the pianist.
If the first part before the intermission was still fairly energetic, the part after the intermission is introverted, enclosed. A textbook example also of tradition and innovation. Starting with "Schafe können sicher weiden" from the Cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 by J.S. Bach in an arrangement by Egon Petri (1881-1962). It is a non-ecclesiastical secular congratulations cantata that Bach composed in 1713. And then both instrumentalists Ralph van Raat and Sylvia Huang lead the audience into the universe of Arvo Pärt, music stripped of all bombast, refined to the essence. Pärt does not lose himself in the infinity of details. His musical maturity is of a purity and dosage. Notes as fine filigree. Starting Für Alina, a short piano solo dedicated to Alina, the daughter of a friend of the family. Followed by Fratres, Für Anna Maria and Spiegel im Spiegel. Chemistry develops between the two instrumentalists. Ralph van Raat lets the silence sound, which is an integral part of the composition. The audience is all attention, touched by the beauty and peace of the compositions. Music is performed in a consecrated silence. Music as a velvety soft caress, where you become completely zen. Ethereal spheres to lose yourself in.
Pärt's work has a large public reach. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, listeners of the classical VRT station Klara voted Arvo Pärt with Spiegel im Spiegel in first place in the Klara Top-100.
Art, as part of expression, is largely developmental dynamics. Art shows what is otherwise not seen. Scraping away the mirror to see what lies behind the shine. It is the privilege of the artist to polish the mirror of our existence until each detail is razor-sharp and/or distorted and is catapulted back onto our entire being. That is exactly what Arvo Pärt is capable of, and therein lies his virtuosity.
WHO: Sylvia Huang [violin], Ralph van Raat [piano]
WHAT: Shostakovich, Bach, Pärt
WHERE: deSingel (Antwerpen)
WHEN: 3 February 2023 at 8 pm