Continuo is the name of the symphony orchestra of alumni and staff of UGent. It stands alongside the Ghent University Symphony Orchestra (GUSO), which consists mainly of students. Although UGent is the largest employer in Ghent, it is to the credit of the university that it maintains several orchestras, as well as a choir and a brass band. Large companies that have an orchestra of employees are rare. For example, in the Netherlands there is the Philips Symphony Orchestra with its long tradition. On the program of Continuo on 28 and 29 January in the Ghent Christus Koningkerk are three orchestral works. First the "Vorspiel" from Wagner's Lohengrin, then the Cantus Arcticus by Rautavaara and after the intermission Swan Lake by Tsjaikovski.
Considerable thought has clearly gone into the composition of this program. The concert audience may be less familiar with the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016), although he is the most famous Finnish composer after Sibelius. His Cantus Arcticus is a concerto for birds and orchestra, inspired by the birds of the High North.
Fortunately, there is a speaker who welcomes the audience and explains the program. There is no printed program, but a QR code to download it. No smartphone or a flat battery, no program...
The speaker is a cheerful man who begins by talking about the bird count, which makes this weekend the Flemish bird count weekend. From the birds in your garden we go to the birds of Rautavaara, which we hear in his Cantus Arcticus, and further to the swans of Tsjaikovski. And was not Lohengrin himself riding on a swan? It is clear that this was thought through carefully.
Continuo is an amateur orchestra that has only existed since 2016. If you take into account the corona period and its attendant difficulties, a short time to build a lasting collaboration and a homogeneous sound. Unlike a professional orchestra, you also have to find and convince the instrumentalists to commit themselves. There may be enough violinists or cellists among amateur musicians, but where do you find four horns, two bassoons, or a tuba among alumni?
Of course, this orchestra does not have the suppleness and impeccable intonation of a top orchestra, but the result was quite respectable. It is also bold and daring to begin with the ethereal and delicate "Vorspiel" from Lohengrin. Tsjaikovski's Swan Lake is well-known repertoire with which the orchestra exposes itself. Under the skillful direction of conductor Kevin Hendrickx it sounds solid, although the strings are sometimes overpowered by the winds. That could also be due to the acoustics. With the wooden flat ceiling of the Christus Koningkerk, the space forms a generous sound box in which the brass and percussion sometimes resonate a bit too strongly.
Rautavaara has composed much whistling in his Cantus Arcticus where birds flit between the orchestral sounds. Not only do the winds imitate the birds, but there is also a tape with real bird sounds in the score. As the piece progresses, we hear not only whistles; Rautavaara reminds us that birds can also chirp, quack, coo and screech. Birds are wild and free, never stick to the conductor's tempo, so here and there an unexpected clarinet with a quack of a duck or a trumpet with the screech of a magpie. Long live the bird count weekend!
WHO: Symphony Orchestra CONTINUO conducted by Kevin Hendrickx
WHAT: Swan Lake
MUSIC:
- Richard Wagner - "Vorspiel" from Lohengrin
- Einojuhani Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus
- Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjaikovski - Suite from 'Swan Lake'
WHERE: Christus Koningkerk (Gent)
WHEN: Sunday 29 January 2023 at 16:00