In this book about Brewaeys, a few scores are printed. A copy of one still lies in the "music" folder on my desk. I received it from Katelijne Boon when I was preparing a Journaal item about that sensational 'compulsory piece' he wrote for the semi-final of the Elisabeth vocal competition 2011. It was a commission from the Belgian competition organization but the international competition jury found it unplayable and scrapped the compulsory work. Wrongly so, because soprano Laure Delcampe gave a memorable performance in BOZAR on 31 March 2011 of "speechless song, being many, seeming one" on text from sonnet no. 8 by Shakespeare.
[video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://klassiek-centraal.be/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2300_20240521141214_hires.mp4"][/video]
It is a story that author Johan Huys also tells extensively in this book. And it is a friend telling it. You notice that on every page of this work. That thrums through in the numerous testimonies, conversations, citations from interviews and emails about and around the life and work of Brewaeys. It is not really a biography but a monumental tribute, that it is. A "kaleidoscopic" portrait in 56 very fluently written little chapters.
Joke teller, whisky lover, who also enjoyed cigars and convivial dining. This is how Johan Huys describes this composer, pianist, conductor and music director. But these were far from his only qualities. Genius, he adds, and illustrates it abundantly with his own and others' testimonies: from parents and wife, contemporary composers such as Jonathan Harvey and Annelies Van Parys, from conductors and performers such as Arturo Tamayo and Arne Deforce and mentor André Laporte. Who said about him: "a flamboyant pupil with a phenomenal musical ear" and who also wanted to teach him "notions of counterpoint", but "all those rules, commandments and prohibitions didn't interest him. He had something else to say." And that was the case too.
Once he discovered spectral music, he destroyed almost everything he had written before. It is the musical genre he is characterized by. You get a real insight into, in and behind the scenes of Brewaeys' compositional mind and how it evolved during his lifetime. That emerges beautifully from the interview fragment of Brewaeys with musicologist Maarten Beirens about the different phases of his complex compositional process. You stand in admiration for the research work the writer has done to find all those names and dates, data and locations of premieres, performances, residencies, festivals. And analyses of his principal works such as his orchestrations of Debussy preludes, his cello piece Black rock unfolding and his "Whisky pieces" (treated in a separate chapter), his symphonies, his only opera L'uomo con fiore in bocca, created at De Munt in 2007. That was also the year of his first cancer treatment and not the last. An exhausting but also determined struggle it certainly was, until his death in 2015. Throughout the description of all these works, you also learn, tragically enough, everything about that long path of suffering that Brewaeys traveled. Huys calls his oeuvre "a biography converted into sound", his true biography. That is why he was always busy with future plans, interrupted by periods of illness, operations, recovery, relapse. Much remained unfinished. He was rational and sober about it, but loved to live abundantly. As has often been written: he had a particular sense of "h(t)umor". He could seek out the utmost boundaries in virtually everything he did, it is stated. There are enough moving passages in this book, with fragments from conversations with his wife and family doctor, sometimes unabashedly intimate. Huys quotes Brewaeys about his composition "E pur si muove": "And yet I write music, even though I am sick and remain sick".
It is remarkable how throughout the entire book the names of people who motivated Brewaeys appear. The leading motif at the beginning of the book is therefore very appropriately chosen. A statement by artist Gerhard Richter: "I have no motive, only motivation".
After reading this extremely fascinating book you realize – perhaps too late – truly, Luc Brewaeys was perhaps difficult and complex, but certainly a brilliant person.
note ed.: Luc Brewaeys added an extra dimension to Klassiek Centraal. Mid-December 2008 the magazine, running on Koen and Ludwig, received an email. With praise for the initiative and its content and with the question whether he could collaborate, voluntarily. For our young magazine this was a recognition that surpassed all others. He immediately became the first contributor outside the initiators. Unfortunately, the collaboration did not proceed as Luc and we wished. The ugly cancer, which would also strike Koen, threw a wrench in the collaboration. After 1.5 years of collaboration, we appointed Luc Honorary Editor during the celebration of Five Years Klassiek Centraal in the Brussels town hall. Luc could not be there. Lucrèce Maeckelberg and the meanwhile also lamented Wim Henderickx brought the certificate to Luc's home. Among the cigars and the whisky, indeed. Wim, Koen and Luc are no longer with us, but they do not let us go. Each in their own way they are an inspiration to carry on. Yes Luc, rest assured, we will carry on, partly thanks to you!
