"Five years is a wooden anniversary, time flies, what is five years? It has already been five years since the carillon was installed in our church tower. My mother was five years old when the Second World War broke out. That lasted five years. How long those years were. Currently there are serious wars going on. Let us hold A Minute of Silence for Peace"… Thus spoke the incumbent mayor of the quiet Brabant town Aarschot to a well-filled church on the occasion of the 'Anniversary Concert' marking – already – five years of the Peace Carillon.
On 11 November 2018, 100 years after the end of WWI, the Peace Carillon was inaugurated in Aarschot. A fresh and at the same time warm-sounding instrument, although at this ceremony it would only be played briefly by Irish carillonist Adrian Gebruers (his father was from Antwerp). The main musical role was, after the mayor's brief address, played by the Brassband Hombeek and the chamber carillon of the Koninklijke Beiaardschool, positioned in front of the magnificent Gothic rood screen in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk.
The chamber carillon is an instrument that can be placed in a hall or church and is then played solo or together with other instruments. For this concert, this chamber carillon would be played both solo and together with the Brassband Hombeek. At the carillon keyboard sat Mechelen city carillonist Eddy Marien, and the brass band was conducted by the very talented musical jack-of-all-trades Stan Niewenhuis.
It became an atmospheric concert with a programme full of variety from serious to more populist classical. It started with the rousing march, a sort of call for (hopefully soon coming) Peace, 'The British Grenadiers', a work from the 17th century. Like most compositions where the brass band and the carillon played together, it was arranged by 19-year-old composer-percussionist Lennert Van Laenen.
Riskier was the interplay of the brass band and the carillon with Bach's Concerto in A after Vivaldi. The bells simply ring out, you cannot muffle them and I feared it might sound somewhat messy. This was not the case, probably because it is a smaller carillon on the one hand and because on the other hand the carillonist strongly emphasized and scraped some of the filling bass and ornaments. For the occasion, the Japanese Embassy was represented and for them Eddy Marien played the fine, sensitive Sakura Sakura, the most famous Japanese folk song.
After two remarkably skilful works by the severely underrated composer Jos Lerinckx ((Halle, 13 June 1920 - Mechelen, 23 December 2000) which received remarkable applause, listening to an impressive work 'Crescent City Cortege' by composer Rebecca Lundberg, who with this composition was rightly a finalist of the International Brass Band Composer Competition in Dallas (organised by BrookWright Music) in 2020. As an interlude, the (almost) birthday boy carillonist gave the listeners the Unwritten Postlude by Jef Denyn. An exceptionally lyrical work that penetrates to the depths of your soul.
With due flair, this festive concert (almost) concluded with selections from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein. The balance between the carillon and the brass band was very strong. Also highly noteworthy is the outstanding quality of the Brassband Hombeek, which operates entirely on amateurs. Some American musicians present could hardly believe it was not seasoned professionals.
The organizer of the evening, Marc Van Eyck, the man who also ensured from A to Z the realization of the carillon project was rightfully honored. He received an unannounced musical tribute with "I bid you no Farewell".
What a successful evening indeed!
- WHAT: Anniversary Concert 5 years Peace Carillon
- WHO: Brassband Hombeek conducted by Stan Niewenhuis, carillonist Eddy Mariën
- WHERE & WHEN: Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk Aarschot, 25 November 2023
- PHOTOS: Bart Verhaeghe