Was it to close off the year or to open the upcoming new year that the Etesiane Orchestra programmed four overtures? We'll leave that in the middle. It was a pleasure to enjoy a familial, comradely atmosphere in a hall that was once a luxurious porcelain shop with a porcelain factory at the back in the once equally upscale neighborhood on the Waverse Steenweg in the Brussels municipality of Elsene.
Well, today the neighborhood is not what it once was, and little remains of the interior of the beautiful shop. The workshop has been mismanaged, but something or other was salvaged during the renovation. A renovation that gave Elsene a new cultural center, almost exclusively French-speaking (…) under the name Talk CEC. Busy music bee Gabriel Hollander organizes the musical section that goes beyond the classical. We went to listen to overtures, performed by his project ensemble 'Etisiane Orchestra' which, alongside Beethoven, brought a forgotten work by the 19th-century German composer Statfeld and a new overture by Dimitri Arnauts.
The hall is actually not ideal for a classical (chamber) orchestra, but that couldn't break the atmosphere. With much energy, Hollander conducted the musicians through the always gripping Fidelio overture by the eternal Ludwig Van Beethoven.
For practically everyone present, musicians included, it was an introduction to the composer Dimitri Arnauts in general and in particular to his occasional overture Prelude van Pro Memoria. A work in the context of a tormented world peace. This composition is the harbinger of a major work of approximately 90 minutes. It consists of small pieces that belong to vividly colored, somewhat minimalistic paintings by a contemporary Italian artist. Personally, I rate the music much higher than the brushwork.
The orchestra continued with the Egmont Overture. The building could barely handle the full orchestra sound. Let's just listen to this oh-so-rich music in fully-fledged concert halls. The same applies to the unknown 'Hamlet Overture' by the German Romantic composer Stadtfeld. A rediscovery that deserves attention. Once this composer was very beloved. He enjoyed the preference of young Leopold I and was welcomed in the better (French-speaking) circles in our country and in France. Alexander Stadtfeld, son of a German father and Leuven mother, fell into oblivion, but is now coming back to the surface. Koenraad Sterckx gave an interesting exposition on the life and work of this half-fellow countryman.
After the intermission, the hall was thoroughly rearranged. The audience was placed among the musicians so that everyone could experience what it's like to be part of a performing orchestra. A forceful experience that strongly appealed to me. It also created much more atmosphere, something different for a change. Not immediately something to review as a 'concert', but certainly worth experiencing. I felt myself back in the orchestra class of long ago…
- WHAT: Fidelio Overture: Beethoven; world premiere "Prelude van Pro Memoria": Dimitri Arnauts; Egmont Overture: Beethoven; Stadtfeld: Hamlet Overture
- WHO: Etesiane Orchestra conducted by Gabriel Hollander
- WHERE & WHEN: Talk CEC former porcelain factory Brussels, former porcelain factory Saturday, December 16, 2023
- PHOTOS: © BRG
