From Commission to Crowdfunding Campaign
One year after her passing, Hadewych Hammenecker (1944-2020) received a special posthumous tribute at a concert for which her husband, Prof. Willy Sansen, had commissioned a composition from Johan Sluys. The widower and composer jointly decided that the work would be built around the seven chakra system. Since the Sansen-Hammenecker couple had lived abroad for an extended period, the woman had developed a keen interest in Zen Buddhism and Eastern culture in general. It was the commissioner's wish that Shabda Brahman would be performed regularly, and this week that wish comes true. Following a private performance, the work will receive its public premiere on February 18, 2024.
My body is like a tree
with roots deep in the earth
From a memorial concert, Shabda Brahman has evolved into a meditation concert. Not only has the composer since refined his work here and there, but meditative texts have also been added. Similar to the liturgical prayers in Haydn's Seven Last Words, listeners receive a text before each section that guides their thoughts toward one of the seven chakras and its accompanying music. The texts are written and read by Katleen Van Bavel, radio producer, curator, and presenter at Klara.
Third chakra.
It's quite remarkable that this composition will receive another public performance. After the creation of contemporary music, the score often ends up in a drawer where it stays forever. Although Johan Sluys feels that his third chakra (fire) is his least developed, he nevertheless takes the initiative and risk of presenting Shabda Brahman to the world independently. The decision came after a cumbersome subsidy application yielded nothing and an interested organizer backed out at the last minute.
The artistic risks are minimal: the work has had time to mature, and audiences these days are won over by adventurous music with a certain spiritual quality. The financial side of things is another matter.
Johan Sluys:It would really be interesting to investigate how much of the remaining subsidy money goes toward administration and what percentage actually goes to the musicians themselves, let alone the composer. I like to compare the situation to that of a farmer who also produces a life-essential product for people, gets paid only a few cents for it, while consumers have to pay several euros. I think something similar is happening with us musicians. The current subsidy structure no longer allows for supporting a standalone concert; without all possible partners—artistic, financial, promotional—you simply can't make it work anymore. The days when public broadcasters performed and recorded every new classical music score are long gone. The composers who can write on commission are few and far between. Many do their utmost to get performed here and there. Or they go abroad where the costs of a performance are lower. I'm certainly not the only fool who tears his hair out over funding every few years. The crowdfunding campaign counter is currently at €1,100 while the real costs are nearly ten times higher. So that means dipping into savings, right?
Four and Seven
Because there's not much you can do musically with Zen Buddhism, the commissioner Prof. Willy Sansen and composer Johan Sluys found it more interesting to work with the seven-part structure of the chakras as a framework for the composition. Even those who don't practice yoga may be aware of the seven chakras, which according to the ancient Hindu tradition are seven energy centers—mini-brains of our body, each with a different frequency. They are interconnected and are linked to various medical, psychological, and philosophical concepts. They represent different aspects of human functioning such as survival, joy of life, willpower, love, communication, intuition, and insight..
Logically, Shabda Brahma consists of seven parts, the first four of which also reference the elements of earth, water, fire, and air. The music is played by an ensemble of seven instruments: clarinet, horn, viola, double bass, and three percussionists. The four singers, who also play some non-classical instruments, are all bass singers, which alludes to Tibetan monks.
The letters H, A, D, E, C from the name Hadewych generated the musical theme that is present throughout the work. The structure of the first four parts, which average seven minutes each, is identical and is constructed according to the principle of the Golden Ratio. From an initial musical segment, there follows up to seven times a shorter variation (with a coefficient of 0.618) until eventually almost nothing remains. The resting point is in the middle and provides a moment of meditation. Music analysis students would certainly find this a beautiful but also very transparent puzzle.
In terms of style, Johan Sluys in Shabda Brahma is indebted to both Gérard Grisey and Tan Dun. More than ever, he has sought out fitting instrumentation. The four elements are given voice through flowing water, a waterphone, rainstick, ribbed tubes, woodblocks, and more.
Specifically for this composition, he had seven sound bowls designed in Cologne that produce each other's overtones and sound beautiful together. You could say they approach the Harmony of the Spheres of Pythagoras—the sound of the cosmos.
Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 3 PM and at 5 PM
Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 3 PM and 5 PM
in the recently restored church of 3040 Sint Agatha-Rhode,
Admission: €20, reservations: email to johan.sluys@telenet.be
crowdfunding via: steunactie.nl/arts-culture/shabda-brahman-1/-18416
Contributors will be acknowledged in the program booklet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRKBXm38Wvg
The ensemble consists of:
Geert Baekelandt (clarinet), Guillame Michiels (horn), Dimitri Dumon, Silas Van den Spiegel and Gideon Van Canneyt (percussion), Jeroen Robbrecht (viola), Ludo Joly (double bass) and four bass singers (Luc Martens, Lieven Van den Eede, Eli Paredis, Guillaume Morauw), conducted by Daniel Gazon.
Johan Sluys (right) is a classical philologist and pianist, earned a master's degree in composition from Claude Ledoux and studied choral conducting with Erik Van Nevel and Daniel Gazon. He is a lecturer at the Leuven Conservatory.
Prof. Willy Sansen (left) is co-founder of MICAS at Esat, the electrical engineering department of KU Leuven. Together with his wife, he spent many years abroad, where she developed an interest in Zen Buddhism.
