Being invited by an association celebrating its anniversary in the prestigious Paleis der Academiën, located right next to the Royal Palace in Brussels? It is wonderful promotion for a young pianist and composer. Andreas Moulin had that honour. This was done by the Brussels branch of the national association Actueel Denken en Leven, which organized its prestigious lectures there and celebrated its 50th anniversary with this small but fine concert programme.
Andreas Moulin is 28 and comes from the stable of the Leuven Lemmensinstituut, now LUCA School of Arts. He also teaches violin there, because in addition to piano he also studied violin there. And indeed with Elisa Kawaguti, he was her student and had also brought her along for their performance. But first Moulin played alone. And immediately you knew what he stands for as a composer. Three lesser-known works but by composers who share his genre choice. You could deduce from the titles of these works alone that you can safely call Andreas Moulin a seeker of silence. He began with "Still" by Ola Gjeilo. A Norwegian who found his second home in America. His work is often catalogued under the heading New Age, but stands out especially for its lush harmony. Here beautifully supported by a sustained pedal note, something you regularly find in the music genre we have conveniently come to call neoclassical. The result is a soothing effect. And it is also that which Moulin seeks. And he also found that effect in an Alexander Chesnokov who is unknown to us. A celebrated Russian composer of Orthodox choral music who, after the Bolshevik revolution, ultimately ended up in Paris. No wonder that his suite "Esquisses du jour" contains elements reminiscent of Debussy. Andreas Moulin played the piece La Nuit from it and did so with such grace.
He also found a musician in that neoromanticist idiom in Japan, Takashi Yoshimatsu, and chose his piano work "To a Disappeared Pleiade". We received the necessary explanation from the pianist about those seven sisters from Greek mythology and the constellation. No wonder that Andreas Moulin likes to venture into the night searching the firmament for silence.
A completely different story came when he performed in duo with his violin professor Elisa Kawaguti a version of that famous "Méditation de Thaïs" by Jules Massenet. Yet again a confirmation of the melancholic atmosphere that radiated through the entire programme. And especially when he played together with her a couple of his own compositions, and specifically his first work, Death of a Nightingale. He wrote it when saying goodbye to a Japanese friend who returned to her homeland after her studies. It is a wondrous bird, dozens of composers have tried to capture its song, from Clément Janequin to Schubert to Respighi. That bird whistles with a wealth of bright tones that are rarely surpassed by its peers. But here that melody had to fade softly, slowly die. Piano and violin did that with great delicacy.
Finally there were "4 Tableaux Rêveurs". Andreas Moulin expresses his own dream world in it. The titles of the pieces speak for themselves, a world that, by the way, we all venture into from time to time: le Songe, le Gobelin, le Jardin féerique and Rhapsodie. In one word to sum up the concert? Subtle!
WHO: Andreas Moulin, piano and Elisa Kawaguti, violin
WHAT: Ola Gjello, Still; Alexander Chesnokov, La nuit from Suite "Esquisses de Jour"; Takashi Yoshimatsu, To a disappeared pleiad; Jules Massenet, Méditation de Thaïs; Andreas Moulin, Death of a Nightingale; 4 Tableaux Rêveurs
WHERE: Paleis der Academiën, Brussels
WHEN: 20 March 2023