Projects

Projects

INSTRUMENTAL THEATRE / Mauricio Kagel

2021 marked the 90th anniversary of Mauricio Kagel’s birth, one of the most important composers of the 20th century and  the pioneers of the New Music-Theatre. This project presents a part of his most characteristic works and different styles of his composition, combining film, music and theatre.

FAIRY TALES / Robert Schumann_ Jörg Widmann​

Schumann was inspired by fantastic stories like many other Romantic period composers. Widmann regard his « Märchenerzählungen » as a disjointed, complex contemporary work based on the characteristic of Fairy Tales, a source of mankind’s underlying primal fears and desires. He shows his own, contemporary perspective on the subject « Es war einmal…[Once upon a time] »

LEÇONS DE TÉNÈBRES / Ellen Jacobs_ François Couvreur_ Stefan Hejdrowski​

Three perspectives on the poetry of Corinne Hoex by three young Belgian composers – Ellen Jacobs, François Couvreur and Stefan Hejdrowski. In the continuity of the great masters of the Renaissance, this work leads us into the dense and absolute universe of the Leçons de ténèbres. This project was created for and premiered at the Belgian Music Days Festival 2022 in Eupen with soprano Noriko Yakushiji.

RIEN NE S'OPPOSE À LA NUIT / David Achenberg

Putting terrestrial time and cosmic time into perspective is probably one of the oldest human preoccupations. This composition dedicated to the Erämaa Trio, is modestly part of this utopian and metaphysical reflection… A truly hypnotic, even psychedelic experience, this thirty-minute piece is the first in a cycle of works centred on the same theme. Its acoustic part (a slow microtonal drift that unfolds in 64 sequences divided into 15 symmetrical sections) is confronted seven times by its exact replica, highly accelerated and electronically processed (with the complicity of Quentin Meurisse). These seven points of intersection are spectacular displays of energy that nourish and reinvigorate the long, vibrant introspection. The two temporal dimensions are intended to represent terrestrial time and cosmic time. Perhaps they form just one, indivisible and universal. – David Achenberg

FÛUN JÔSHI / Stéphane Orlando

A Film Concert by Stéphane Orlando
Performed by Erämaa Trio & Special guest Aki Sato (Shamisen and Koto)
A production by Forum de la Création Musicale, Cinematek, Les Sons des Cinés and Erämaa Trio

EN

Composer Stéphane Orlando, pianist at the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique (Cinematek) since 2001, composed an original music for the silent film « Fûun Jôshi » (Toko Yamazaki, Japan, 1928). Premiered by the ensemble Erämaa at the “Festival Restored” in 2023.

The Japanese violinist and violist Akiko Okawa, the clarinettist Cédric De Bruycker, whose sounds can sometimes evoke those of the shakuhachi, and the pianist and live electronics designer Quentin Meurisse, invite the Japanese shamisen and koto player Aki Sato for the occasion. 

The composer’s approach is to draw on traditional Japanese music, in particular the song Chidori no Kyoku, performed by the two lovers in the film, but also Kabuki music, or pieces from the Japanese repertoire from the beginning of the 20th century used in the silent cinema, to exploit a multitude of sound combinations in the service of the image and the rhythm of the film.

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FR

Le compositeur Stéphane Orlando, pianiste à la Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique (Cinematek) depuis 2001, a composé une musique originale pour le film muet « Fûun Jôshi » (Toko Yamazaki, Japon, 1928). Première par l’ensemble Erämaa dans le cadre du “Festival Restored” en 2023.

La violoniste et altiste japonaise Akiko Okawa, le clarinettiste Cédric De Bruycker aux sonorités pouvant évoquer parfois celles du shakuhachi et le pianiste et concepteur de live électronique Quentin Meurisse, invitent pour l’occasion la joueuse de shamisen et de koto japonaise Aki Sato.

La démarche du compositeur consiste à puiser dans la musique traditionnelle japonaise, notamment la chanson Chidori no Kyoku, interprétée par les deux amants dans le film, mais aussi la musique de Kabuki, ou encore des pièces du répertoire japonais du début du XXème siècle utilisé dans le cinéma muet, pour exploiter une multitude de combinaison sonore au service de l’image et du rythme du film.

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日本語

ベルギー人作曲家 ステファン・オーロンド (Stéphane Orlando) による無声映画のための新曲。1977年にベルギー王立シネマテークで発見され保管されている山崎藤江監督作『風雲城史』(1928年公開)のため特別に作曲され、エラマー・アンサンブルによって “Festival Restored” (2023年・王立シネマテーク主催の映画祭)で初演された。

エラマー・トリオの特殊な楽器編成 (ヴァイオリン/ヴィオラ、クラリネット/バスクラリネット、キーボード、ライヴ・エレクトロニクス) に加え、特別ゲストとして佐藤亜貴 (三味線・箏奏者) を迎えた。

歌舞伎音楽をはじめとする日本の伝統音楽や、かつて20世紀初頭に無声映画に添えられ演奏されていたレパートリー等から受けたインスピレーションを元に、邦楽器の音色を西洋楽器を通して実現させるなど独自の作曲スタイルと映像を調和させた。近世邦楽における代表曲の一つ ”千鳥の曲” も各所に現れ、楽曲に華を添える。