Le Bestiaire by Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble

Camille Saint-Saëns, Piet Swerts

Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble

Le Bestiaire

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Antarctica
UPC: 0608917732221
Catnr: AR 22
Release date: 02 October 2020
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1 CD ✓ in stock	€ 19.95	Buy

Label
Antarctica

UPC
0608917732221

Catalogue number
AR 22

Release date
02 October 2020

"His Le bestiaire provides beautiful atmospheric drawings and is exceptionally beautifully executed."

Mania, 09-10-2020

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Sweet Saint-Saëns and wicked Apollinaire may be empires apart, but their hilarious animal portraits in Le Carnaval des Animaux and Le Bestaire ooze the same satirical genius. Belgian composer Piet Swerts translated the evident musicality in the Bestiaire poems into real melodies, and he rearranged
Le Carnaval for clarinet, strings and piano. The acclaimed Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble fuses both zoos in an unparalleled chamber-musical Animal Farm which showcases the grand façades but also the foibles of the normal, and not so normal creatures that populate it.

Op dit ‘beestachtig’ mooie album van het ensemble van de toonaangevende Belgische klarinettist Roeland Hendrikx ontmoeten de dieren van Camille Saint-Saëns en Guillaume Apollinaire elkaar. Arrangeur Piet Swerts zorgde ervoor dat het een amusante, verfrissende dierenboel werd om met plezier naar te luisteren.

De werelden van componist Camille Saint-Saëns en schrijver en dichter Guillaume Apollinaire mogen dan mijlenver uit elkaar liggen, hun hilarische dierenportretten stralen hetzelfde satirische genie uit. Saint-Saëns schreef zijn, op dit album opgenomen, baldadige en ludieke Carnaval des animaux eigenlijk als grap voor vrienden, hij vond het niet geschikt voor het concertpodium. Het grote publiek dacht daar anders over en omarmde het werk massaal. In dit unieke en grappige stuk paradeert een stoet van dieren, zoals kippen, leeuwen, schildpadden, een olifant en een zwaan. Maar ook pianisten en fossielen rekende de componist in zijn karakterschetsen tot het dierenrijk. De Belgische componist Piet Swerts arrangeerde het werk voor klarinet, strijkers en piano.

Op verzoek van Roeland Hendrikx, schreef Swerts ook een nieuw, fris kamermuziekwerk, waarbij hij voortborduurde op Le Carnaval des animaux. Hij werd daarbij geïnspireerd door de iconische bundel 'Le Bestiaire' van Guillaume Apollinaire uit 1911, waarin 26 dieren de revue passeren in korte, geestige gedichtjes over de pauw, de raaf, de rups, de muis en nog vele andere dieren. Piet Swerts vertaalde de voor de hand liggende muzikaliteit van de bestiaire gedichten in echte melodieën.

Het befaamde Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble voegt beide dierentuinen samen tot een ongekende kamermuzikale dierenboerderij die de prachtige façades laat zien, maar ook de zwakheden van de normale en niet zo normale wezens die ze bevolken.

Der sanfte Saint-Saëns und der böse Apollinaire mögen zwar getrennte Reiche sein, aber ihre urkomischen Tierporträts in Le Carnaval des Animaux und Le Bestaire strahlen dasselbe satirische Genie aus. Der belgische Komponist Piet Swerts übersetzte die offensichtliche Musikalität der Bestiaire-Gedichte in echte Melodien, und er arrangierte Le Carnaval für Klarinette, Streicher und Klavier. Das gefeierte Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble verschmilzt beide Tiergärten zu einer beispiellosen kammermusikalischen Tierfarm, die die großartigen Fassaden, aber auch die Schwächen der normalen und nicht so normalen Kreaturen, die sie bevölkern, zur Schau stellt.

Artist(s)

Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort (piano)

Roeland Hendrikx (clarinet)

Roeland Hendrikx is one of the leading clarinetists in Belgium. He appeared as a soloist with the Belgian National Orchestra, The Flemish Symphony Orchestra (B), I Fiamminghi (B), the Beethoven Academy (B), the Flemish Radio Orchestra (B), The Limburg Symphonic Orchestra (NL), the Georgia Philharmonic (US), the Symphonic Orchestra of Lithuania and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hagen (Germany). In April 2018, Roeland Hendrikx recorded works for clarinet and orchestra of Mozart, Finzi and Bruch with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, in the famous Henry Wood Hall in London. The album will be released in October 2018. Roeland Hendrikx is also passionate about chamber music. As a distinguished chamber musician, he has performed at well known international music festivals and venues....

Roeland Hendrikx is one of the leading clarinetists in Belgium.

He appeared as a soloist with the Belgian National Orchestra, The Flemish Symphony Orchestra (B), I Fiamminghi (B), the Beethoven Academy (B), the Flemish Radio Orchestra (B), The Limburg Symphonic Orchestra (NL), the Georgia Philharmonic (US), the Symphonic Orchestra of Lithuania and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hagen (Germany). In April 2018, Roeland Hendrikx recorded works for clarinet and orchestra of Mozart, Finzi and Bruch with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, in the famous Henry Wood Hall in London. The album will be released in October 2018.

Roeland Hendrikx is also passionate about chamber music. As a distinguished chamber musician, he has performed at well known international music festivals and venues. He played with renowned artists and string quartets (amongst others Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, Severin Von Eckardstein, Ursula Gorniak, France Springuel, Panocha Quartet, Tempera Quartet (Finland), Vega String Quartet (USA) and Danel Quartet. In 2015 Roeland Hendrikx set up his own chamber music ensemble, (Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble), which focuses on the rich repertoire for clarinet, piano and strings.

Roeland is teaching clarinet at the Maastricht Conservatory (The Netherlands) and the LUCA School of Arts in Leuven (Belgium). He has given masterclasses in Europe, China, Japan, and the US.

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Sander Geerts (viola)

Nicolas Dupont (violin)

Camille Joubert (violin)

Sevak Avanesyan (cello)

Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble

In 2015 Roeland Hendrikx founded his own chamber music ensemble, which essentially focuses on the rich repertoire for clarinet, piano and strings. In the largest line-up, there are six musicians on stage, but programmes in trio, quartet or quintet formation are also on offer. Although he gave his name to the ensemble, and remains its inspiration and driving force, Roeland exclusively works with like-minded colleagues. These are chosen in function of their technical and expressive craftsmanship, but also on the basis of the stripes they have earned in other ensembles, and the uniqueness they contribute to the chemistry of the ensemble. Because the Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble is a permanent collective that remains loyal to a small number of musicians, it can...

Although he gave his name to the ensemble, and remains its inspiration and driving force, Roeland exclusively works with like-minded colleagues. These are chosen in function of their technical and expressive craftsmanship, but also on the basis of the stripes they have earned in other ensembles, and the uniqueness they contribute to the chemistry of the ensemble. Because the Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble is a permanent collective that remains loyal to a small number of musicians, it can function – much more than any ad hoc formation – as a laboratory in which various spirits and styles can collaborate towards one overwhelming melting point.

The Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble is often praised for its technical perfection and the special symbiosis that emerges when individual talents consciously choose to collaborate instead of engaging in fleeting experiences. The ensemble has only one goal: to move, to enrapture, ... and to provide a memorable listening experience.

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Composer(s)

Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. He was a musical prodigy, writing his first pieces of music at the age of four and making his concert debut at the age of ten. During this concert he astonished the audience by playing one of the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven at its request. After his studying at the Conservatory of Paris he followed a career as a church organist at Saint-Merri and later La Madeleine in Paris. He was also a successful freelance composer and pianist in France and abroad.
Saint-Saëns initially helped to introduce German composers such as Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner in France. However, from 1870 onwards anti-German sentiments began to arise in France as a result of the Franco-Prussian War, which enhanced support for the idea of a pro-French musical society. In 1871 Saint-Saëns consequently founded the Société Nationale de Musique together with Romain Bussine, that was devoted to the promotion of French music and organised concerts on which young composers could perform their works.
Saint-Saëns was a keen traveler, and made 179 trips to 27 different countries during his life. He favoured Algeria and Egypt, were he gained inspiration for compositions such as the Suite Algérienne and the Fifth Piano Concerto, also known as The Egyptian.
Saint-Saëns' best-known works include the First Cello Concerto, Third Symphony, the opera Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Le carnaval des animaux, a humorous suite in which various animals are musically portrayed. However, he never wanted the last work to be performed, since it was contrary to his image as a serious composer.

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Piet Swerts

Swerts, Piet Jozef (b. November 14, 1960, Tongeren). Belgian composer, conductor, and pianist of international acclaim; his large catalog of more than 240 works include stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works. Dr. Swerts studied from 1974-89 at the Leuven College of Arts (LUCA) Campus Lemmens in Leuven, where he obtained ten first prizes, and, for the first time in the history of the same institute, the special Prize Lemmens Tinel for composition and piano with great distinction. Among his teachers were Alan Weiss (USA) and Robert Groslot. Since 1982, he is Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the same institute, now Department of Drama and Music associated with the Catholic University of Leuven. He has been invited as guest professor in the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the Department...

Swerts, Piet Jozef (b. November 14, 1960, Tongeren). Belgian composer, conductor, and pianist of international acclaim; his large catalog of more than 240 works include stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works. Dr. Swerts studied from 1974-89 at the Leuven College of Arts (LUCA) Campus Lemmens in Leuven, where he obtained ten first prizes, and, for the first time in the history of the same institute, the special Prize Lemmens Tinel for composition and piano with great distinction. Among his teachers were Alan Weiss (USA) and Robert Groslot. Since 1982, he is Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the same institute, now Department of Drama and Music associated with the Catholic University of Leuven. He has been invited as guest professor in the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the Department of Electronic Music at the University of Huddersfield, GB, the Polytechnic Institute in Castelo Branco, Portugal, as well as in the Polytechnic Institute North Karelia, Conservatory of Joensuu, Finland, and the Conservatory of Barcelona, Spain. In November 15th, 2017, he conducted the Ukrainian Symphony Orchestra at the Gala Concert in Kiev as the closure of the Golden Saxophone Competition under surveillance of the Belgian Embassy. Future commissions generate first performances of Passions, a new Double Concerto for two pianos to be created in Belgium and Rotterdam 2019, Serenata for wind ensemble, commissioned by Il Gardelino and to be recorded on CD in 2018, a new Suite, Horta for saxophone and piano, commissioned by Arno Bornkamp, presented at the World Congress in Zagreb in 2018. Dr.Swerts currently completed 24 Straight Strung Piano Sonatas recorded in October 2018 and released on Antarctica Records 2019.

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