Serenades: Jos van Immerseel & Anima Eterna Brugge

Sobre o Evento

Strings will be central to the programme for this third concert by the Belgian ensemble in Burgundy’s capital.

Britten’s Simple Symphony is a work of youth that owes its title to the themes on which it is based, all derived from sketches from the composer’s adolescence. But if these themes have the simplicity of youth, the skill with which the 21‐year‐old Britten crafted the work shows all the elegant charm and seduction that characterises his music in general.

It is in France, with Berlioz and then with the chamber music of Ravel, Fauré and Roussel, that the harp first found its most noble roles, and Debussy gave it a major part to play in all of his orchestral music. To promote its new instrument, the manufacturer Pleyel commissioned the French composer, still crowned with the success of Pelléas premiered two years earlier. This commission found Debussy particularly inspired, leading to the creation of a score steeped in an atmosphere of antiquity – the antiquity of the Symbolists whom Debussy so admired – bathed in soft, veiled light, where all is but suggestion.

Marjan de Haer is one of the few harpists to play on a period instrument: the collaboration with Anima Eterna Brugge was therefore evident.