Which composer still has the luck to attend a concert with exclusively music he wrote himself? That luck befell Wilfried Westerlinck. And it happened to celebrate his 80th birthday. And then in the beautiful chapel of Hollands College, in his hometown Leuven.
He gave the introduction himself, but first came with good news and bad news. His 2nd sonata, programmed as the 2nd piece of this morning concert, fell away because the pianist had to cancel. Very unfortunate, because that was none other than that Leuven piano phenomenon, Brecht Valckenaers. The good news? The other musicians were there. And the opening was for violinist Kristina Rimkeviciute and cellist Alexander Avramichik. A duo for violin and cello, you don't find many of those. Westerlinck wrote it in Spain deeply impressed by the many processions where strong shoulders almost swaying carry images of the holy virgin. You hear it too in that violin melody with rising and falling lines, supported by the plucking basso continuo of the cello, which still playing together delivered the final chords. The composer told how the sonority of an instrument can captivate him. And his oeuvre is indeed full of solo work, especially for wind instruments. Simplicity is preferred by him over complexity. Tille Van Gastel performed that full of color and with an almost velvety sound on an instrument we rarely hear solo: an alto flute. It was a special Belgian creation of that 'Aquarel III, for alto flute'. Finally we heard his latest 'Landscape'. It is number IX. He makes them mostly for various ensembles. This time it was for strings and piano, performed by the Mirra quartet. He wrote this landscape in the Dutch Drenthe during the corona period. But all those landscapes are also landscapes of his mood for him. At that time it was about being locked up and yet trying to break out, with feelings of resignation and defiance, but with a powerful liberating finale.
How else can such a birthday concert end than with warm embraces with the celebrated eighty-year-old. Warm congratulations Wilfried.