Catching up with Gotan Project

Not quite sure how it took me more than a week to get around to writing a post about Gotan Project's recent concert at the Halles de Schaerbeek in Brussels, but if you're going to fall behind with updating a blog, the build-up to Christmas seems as good an excuse as any.

I only heard my first Gotan Project album this summer, but I immediately loved the group's sound – tango with an electronica twist. Given that the music can be moody and atmospheric, I wasn't sure what to expect from a live performance. I was both surprised and impressed.

The visuals were almost as important as the music. In many ways it was a show more than just a concert. The group opened their performance behind a gauze screen the height and breadth of the stage onto which images and film were projected. Just as I was beginning to think that the music would feel more live and more direct if the screen wasn't there, the screen disappeared and the group took centre stage - vocalist, bandoneonist, string quartet, pianist, guitarist and two DJs/programmers, all dressed in white.

The visuals continued with images projected onto a screen at the back of the stage, and a couple danced tango to a few songs, but for the most part the musicians were now in the spotlight. The audience was more than warmed up and the show really took off. Including the couple of encores, the audience was treated to about 2 hours of fabulous music. A most memorable concert.

No score, no encore, just Rattle

I can only imagine what it must be like to play in an orchestra with Simon Rattle conducting, but having seen him live last week I’m guessing it would be intense, fun and a bit nerve-wrecking in case you didn’t achieve the musical colour he wanted.

The music he elicited from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was magical; it seemed to directly convey Rattle’s charisma and passion. He didn’t use a score for the Berlioz overture or the two Schumann symphonies on the programme, and this seemed to give him more immediacy with the orchestra. There was quite literally no barrier between him and the musicians.

He almost danced around his little podium as he reached out and gestured to whichever instrument or section whose sound he wanted to bring out. I laughed and smiled and was completely absorbed.

The orchestra, whose trademark is playing on period instruments, doesn’t have a permanent music director and so always works with guest conductors such as Rattle.

It was my first time watching him conduct live and I found it simply brilliant. I can’t wait to see Rattle conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in Brussels in February. Maybe he’ll give the audience an encore this time.

(For those of you who like Desert Island Discs, here is the link to his castaway choices. His chosen luxury was an Italian coffee machine and grinder!)

Following Folon around Belgium

I have to admit to not having heard of Jean-Michel Folon until a few years ago when my employer at the time moved into new Brussels premises and named each of the three conference rooms after “well-known Belgians”. They came up with Rubens, Horta and Folon.

Since then I’ve noticed various Folon artworks around the city, including a 165 m2 oil on canvas at Montgomery metro station, which I saw again recently and prompted me to write this post. On the Grand Sablon in Brussels, a bronze statue of a bird towers more than 4 metres high and at Brussels airport there’s a bronze statue of a person with a propeller on top (the centre of which forms the face).

2008 was in fact the “Year of Folon” in Belgium. That said, there doesn’t appear to be any particular reason for the choice of year (Folon was born in 1934 and died in 2005); the Tourism Office simply seemed to decide to dedicate resources toward promoting the artist and his work.

Whatever the year, I can thoroughly recommend a trip to the Folon Foundation, located in the grounds of the castle of La Hulpe, about a 20-minute drive out of Brussels. You can find there illustrations and magazine covers that Folon created for the likes of The New Yorker and Time, his posters for exhibitions and festivals, watercolours, engravings next to the original copperplates, stained glass, bronze statues, the list goes on.

The foundation was inaugurated in 2000 by Folon himself and its mission is to unite and conserve a heritage: the 500 artworks donated by Jean-Michel Folon.

I’d like the next stop on my Folon discovery trail to be a little church in Wallonia, which has several stained glass windows by the Belgian artist. And you?

Photos: © Thierry Renauld (Fondation Folon)

Carnegie Hall and YouTube Join Forces

This almost sounds too weird to be true, but definitely worth sharing. YouTube is creating what it calls “the world’s first collaborative online orchestra,” the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

It’s open to professionals and amateurs from all over the world, no matter what your instrument is. The audition is done by submitting, yes you guessed it, a YouTube video performance. Not of any work though, but of a new piece written for the occasion by the Chinese composer Tan Dun, who wrote the score for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

According to the website, help is provided to learn the music, rehearse with the conductor and upload your part for a collaborative video. There will then be a popular vote to choose the best players for a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in April.

Get practising!