Spiegel Strijkkwartet - Jan Michiels

Wim Henderickx (b. 1962) wrote his First Quartet in 1992. Repeated as a mantra, 'Om' leads to contemplation of the self, empties the soul and transports one to ecstasy; it is the classic prayer chant of Buddhist monks. Henderickx chooses a central tone like 'Om' and then immediately combines it with four other tones that, according to Eastern tradition, are said to have a healing power. This music is simultaneously slow and quick: slow due to the inner peace and quick as a result of the continuous 'internal' occurrences. The piece forms the introduction to the first-ever performance of a new quartet by the same composer. The Piano Quartet by Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894) was never finished: he started writing in 1892 but by the time he died two years later, he had only been able to complete two movements. The missing movement is the finale, which according to one of Lekeu's letters would have radiated joie de vivre. He described his quartet as despairing pain, full of convulsions. Alleviating this pain would only lead to impassioned melancholy. Lekeu's late-Romantic manner of expression was exaggerated: though his music may have sounded bizarre, distorted and 'horrible', it would very certainly also have been original. As an introduction to this piano quartet, Jan Michiels will perform a splendid little piece of piano music by Lekeu's mentor César Franck (1822-1890).