With a programme that spans over four centuries of musical history, crosses Europe from East to West, sways between church music and opera, and stretches the technical possibilities of brass instruments to their limit (and beyond?), it is clear to see that Belgian Brass is indeed “Pushing the Limits”...

Giovanni Gabrieli (1554/57-1612) is undoubtedly the most important representative of Venetian music from the end of the 16th through the beginning of the 17th century. As from when he followed in the footsteps of his uncle Andrea in the City of Doges in 1585 as the composer of liturgical services in St Mark’s Basilica, he not only continued developing the tradition of the polychoral vocal style a cori spezzati (i.e. using divided choirs: the acoustics and the specific construction of the basilica with its large, high galleries made it possible to split the choir into two sections and have them sing in turn, creating a veritable dialogue), he also had an outstanding instrumental ensemble at his disposal, to which the greatest virtuosos of the period, including cornetti players Girolamo Dalla Casa and Giovanni Bassano, belonged. His compositions for St Mark’s were published in two Sacrae symphoniae bundles. The instumental canzonas and sonatas they contain were almost certainly intended to be heard at mass and versper services on the main holidays and celebrations throughout the liturgical year. The ten-part, double-choir Canzon Duodecimi toni clearly illustrates how Gabrieli managed to highlight the virtuoso abilities of his ensemble.

While the heart of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) lies in religious music, his worldwide orchestral music also plays an important role. Alongside Musikalisches Opfer, the Kunst der Fuge and a large number of concerti, between 1725 and 1741 he also composed some four orchestral suites for varying combinations which all consist solely of an opening followed by a set of dance movements that follow one another in succession, clearly under the influence of the French style. The first of these suites dates back to around 1725 and was originally composed for 2 oboes, bassoon, strings and basso continuo.

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) severed all ties with his boss Count Colloredo in 1781 (thus becoming the first freelance composer ever!), he had far more freedom to determine what and how he would compose. He found the ideals of liberty and humanity to which he subscribed reflected in Beaumarchais’ play Les Noces de Figaro, which conveyed the spirit of the French Revolution. Against the recommendation of the censure committee (the ideas were too revolutionary and too modern), but with the support of King Ludwig ll, between October 1785 and April 1786, Mozart used this play as a basis for composing his opera Le nozze di Figaro, a masterpiece that continues to be one of the most popular works in opera repertoires around the world. The opening immediately sets the tone for the whirlwind of events in the folle journée described in this opera.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Der Ring des Nibelungen is undoubtedly one of the most megalomaniacal projects in the entire history of opera: four entire evenings worth of music, together some sixteen hours of musical drama, tell the tale of the downfall of the world (or at least of the gods) through their quest for power. The dramatic apex of the entire cycle takes place in Götterdämmerung, the last part of the Ring: this is the moment when forces of evil kill the young hero Siegfried, upon whom the hope of a new world rests. After his death, Siegfried is given a moving funeral march, in which Wagner uses a series of leitmotifs to characterise him as a heroic and dramatic character.

Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987) gained some limited acclaim with his second symphony, but made his first definitive breakthrough, both in his homeland of Russia as well as abroad, with his first opera, Colas Breugnon (1838), which he composed based on the story by Frenchman Romain Rolland. While stylistically speaking Sergey Prokofiev served to a certain example as his example, Kabalevsky never dared go as far with the harmony, and was far more conventional in terms of the form. But this certainly did not prevent Colas Breugnon from becoming a brilliant piece, haunted by a French ghost, with themes influenced by stylised folk music.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was well-known as a marvellous orchestrator with his broad orchestra pallet and his unending richness of colours. He applied this principle with great success to the works of other composers – just think of Moussorgsky’s Picture at an Exhibition – but also to his own compositions for piano. The best-known example of this is definitely the melancholic Pavane pour une infante défunte, a piano work from 1899 that he himself orchestrated in 1910. Althrough Ravel later judged the work very critically, the orchestral version has grown to become of his best known works.

As famed as Ravel for his Pavane is Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) for his Polovtsian Dances. Originally these dances were part of the opera Prince Igor – in the second act, the Polovtsian Khan uses these dances (among others) to entertain his captive, the Russian Prince Igor – but they were actually created in the orchestral form before the opera was performed. These virtuoso dances, with their raw sensual sounds, illustrate the fascination of 19th century Russia with musical exoticism.

Le carnaval romain, the “ouverture caractéristique” by Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), also originates from the world of opera. Berlioz wrote this symphonic work in 1844 as a kind of second opening to his opera Benvenuto Cellini. Just like the opera, which in his own words contains “a variety of ideas, an energy and exuberance and a brilliance of colour such as I may perhaps never find again”, so too does this opening burst with a richness of unheard-of energy and ideas. Berlioz was not only the composer who pushed the technical and coloration possibilities of the orchestra – even before Wagner and Ravel! – to far beyond the limits of his time, he also continues to be a great source of inspiration today to push those technical limits even further. Quod erat demonstrandum.