Ten years ago, wayward composer Luc Brewaeys died at the age of just 56. Conductor Baldur Brönnimann takes a fresh look at the music Brewaeys wrote for the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra almost twenty-five years ago. The Seventh Symphony will be a special listening experience: the groups of instruments are strategically distributed across the room. Like no other, Brewaeys played with timbre and overtones. He shared his fascination for spectralism, a 1970s compositional movement, with Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Her delicate violin concerto Graal théâtre is performed by Benjamin Beilman, who returns after previous successful collaborations with the orchestra. Where the spectralists got the mustard? From Claude Debussy, who made timbre his trademark. The transparency and brilliance of La mer inspired many composers. Brewaeys’ recomposition of Debussy’s Préludes comes full circle: he translated the intimate piano works into a rich symphonic sound world that is tailor-made for the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.
This concert is the prelude to the festival ‘Fasten Seat Belts! Celebrating Luc Brewaeys’. Today, the orchestra honours the special collaboration with the composer and shows how Brewaeys’ music continues to inspire, both in Flanders and beyond. In a mini-exhibition beforehand, you will also learn more about the composer and his works.