Sunday was a drier Walden day on the festival grounds and surroundings. This time The Young Brussels Philharmonic opened. And those are all young musicians, in white shirt sleeves or blouses. And also with a young conductor, Wouter Versavel. A Debussy suite and that last one, perhaps his best, Mozart symphony, the Jupiter. The orchestra members certainly sound good already, but not yet as excellent as the big brothers and sisters. Young Philharmonic is a very forward-thinking project of Brussels Philharmonic.
A more than talented pianist with Schubert.
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Pavel Kolesnikov © Eva Vermandel[/caption]
Pianist Pavel Kolesnikov is the next attraction. You have to go to another location for it. The Walden festival is after all also a walking festival, from concert to concert. And that other location is an attraction in itself: the beautifully renovated Solvay library from 1902, one of the many attractions in Leopoldpark. This Russian pianist carries the reputation of being a poet. And he brings four of the eight impromptus of that other musical poet, Franz Schubert. Shorter pieces of notes strung together, written-down improvisations actually, as perhaps many compositions come into being. Beautiful chamber music but not immediately suitable for sounding in this architecturally eclectic hall. Too much echo in this high hall with its metal roof framework, gallery walks and balustrades. But the progression of those scores remains a pleasure to hear. With of course that second well-known and over-sensitive impromptu, full of simplicity instead of pianistic excess. And still moving to me. The third and fourth impromptus are more cheerful and with a more joyful and faster tempo. And all of it perfectly played and of an indescribable lightness. What virtuosity from the pianist and what inventiveness from the composer. A highlight of the festival weekend.
In a completely different world if you return on your walk through the festival to the main stage. From the purest West-European music you end up in an amalgam of sounds and instruments produced by the Brussels Aleph Quintet with a mix of jazzy piano, rhythmic percussion, Arabic 'oud' and swinging violin supported by a 'slapping bass'.
Once again an unsurpassed Collegium Vocale
Then we dive into the Renaissance for Spanish polyphony. The Officium defunctorum from 1605 by Tomás Luis de Victoria performed by six vocalists from Collegium Vocale. We walk a little further for this to the excellently restored neo-gothic Viale church. And enjoy the minimalist sobriety with which Philippe Herreweghe leads his singers and even more so their pure voices. Quite amazing what a trained singer with a voice can do. Hold one tone, one note and be able to follow it and then be able to listen polyphonically again, it is a true pleasure.
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Collegium Vocale conducted by Philippe Herreweghe (photo Roger Creyf)[/caption]
Other vocal art was to be heard on the main stage. Music from local soil with the young Ghent singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees and her cellist Frederik Daelemans. Intimate songs they were, her trademark. And an enthusiastic audience of course also heard 'Joe', her hit from her debut single.
Seeing all concerts proves not easy, actually impossible. You have to choose and we chose for yet another location, The Garden of the Wiertz museum. There we came across two "Young Twenty-Somethings", from the Klara series with that name. Airboxes is the name of the concert with two accordionists: Bert Leemans with a chromatic accordion and Guus Herremans with a diatonic squeeze box. They compose and play together now for six years. To the great pleasure of the audience, they brought many dancing jigs and bourrées in the garden kiosk. Nice discovery, this duo!
Contagious Palestinian enthusiasm
And for almost the last concert we went back to the big tent. But now for real non-Western music by Trio Joubran. Three brothers from the North Palestinian city of Nazareth, all three oud players, each with their own compositions, supported by two
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Trio Joubran with cellist Valentin Mussou and percussion Youssef Hbeisch and Habib Mefttah. (photo Roger Creyf)[/caption]
brilliant percussionists and a French cellist, also steeped and schooled in the Arabic tradition. But this tradition too does not stand still and is subject to everything that moves musically in that world. With his contagious enthusiasm, frontman Samir Joubran got the entire tent to join in a sing-along of a classical Eastern song. The interplay of the three brothers on their bowed instrument, (all three 'ouds' built by Wissam Joubran!) was simply grandiose.
The overwhelming séance contrasted sharply with the perhaps already too ethereal closing event of Estonian singer Mari Kalkun. From poetic to experimental, that performance too was a bath in the fresh and delightfully relaxed atmosphere of the entire Waldenfestival: "When I hear music I feel no danger". Not even in the Dino hall of the Museum for Natural Sciences nearby, where she sang.