BRYGGEN & Pieter Wispelwey
Programme: John Tavener (1944-2013) - The Protecting Veil Max Richter (1966) / Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) - Four Seasons Recomposed
Time & Location
16 Mar 2024, 20:30 – 22:00
Abdijkerk Grimbergen, Kerkplein 1, 1850 Grimbergen, Belgium
About the Event
'The Four Seasons' by Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi is not only one of the most important works in the classical repertoire, but also the most recorded in the history of classical music. For Max Richter, this work has reached a point of saturation: heard everywhere - in lifts, car parks and mobile phones, on the radio and in television ads - it has lost its noticeable power vis-à-vis contemporary audiences. So the task Richter set himself was to reconfigure the listening experience to this masterpiece. He called the work 'The Four Seasons Recomposed'.
Richter took a very radical approach to Vivaldi's compositional material: by removing 75% of the original, he retained only what he considered essential. In turn, the aesthetic perspectives Richter offers are those of minimalism, electronic music and post-rock.
'The Protecting Veil' was originally written as a short piece of music at the request of cellist Steven Isserlis, but soon developed into a more substantial work commissioned by the BBC for the 1989 Proms season. Like many of Tavener's compositions, this work reflects the composer's Russian Orthodox faith.
BRYGGEN will perform this work with Pieter Wispelwey as soloist.