You may know the summer lunchtime concerts at the Brussels Conservatory and the Zavelkerk of the Midis Minimes Festival. But just a stone's throw away, from Tuesday to Friday there is also a lunchtime concert, a very interesting and perhaps less well-known summer festival: the Musicorum Festival. These concerts take place in a hall with an entrance on the stately Paleis van Karel van Lotharingen on the Museumplein, in the hypermodern "Auditorium 490 Philippe Roberts-Jones" of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts. With its 360 seats, it was quite full on that warm August afternoon. They came to listen to a duo with an unusual instrumentation. These were Bernard Woltèche, cellist and also on bassoon and recorder, and Jérémie Papasergio. Both are professional musicians and teachers. And the small ensemble of these two friends is called "Les Amis de Clematis".
They are more than fully fledged baroque soloists. And that was evident from their programme. The opening was a sonata for two bass instruments by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, here played on bassoon and cello. Bodin de Boismortier was a popular and extremely prolific French baroque composer who could live richly from his work without sponsors. The two musicians played lightly and cheerfully, alternating the lead between cello and bassoon. Listening to that delightful conversation, I almost automatically thought: how swinging baroque music can sound. Afterwards we heard two uplifting and familiar-sounding pieces, based on tunes by contemporary Jean-Philippe Rameau, "Les gentils airs", "Tambourine" and "Les Sauvages", in a version for our two instrumentalists. Then came the highly virtuosic "Folia", this time the one Arcangelo Corelli wrote on 1 January 1700. It is a theme of which nobody really knows anymore where the melody comes from. Here the bassoon was exchanged for the recorder. What mastery of this beautiful instrument, with those lovely dialogues with the cello. A moment of stillness came when cellist Bernard Woltèche played a few movements from the Suite No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach. And to close, one of the few sonatas written explicitly for these two instruments together: by Mozart, written when he was 19. A playful, youthful and humorous composition. A very successful performance by a lesser-known ensemble at a lesser-known Brussels lunchtime festival, in a lesser-known place. Well worth trying out. Moreover, admission is free: you pay 5 € for a programme, and you may also make a donation.
I would also like to mention the following. In the autumn, cellist and teacher Bernard Woltèche, with his ensemble from the Collegium Musicum, will perform Purcell's Dido and Aeneas at the Brussels Conservatory. The production is in the hands of Sigrid T'Hooft, the specialist par excellence in authentic performances faithful to the time of their creation. Underappreciated in her own country, but internationally acclaimed. Another recommendation.