The summer of 2019, Het Collectief was invited once again at the Saintes festival. On the programme: Gustav Mahler"s 'Ds Lied von der Erde', in a version for ensemble composed by Reinbert de Leeuw, who conducted the performance himself. This cycle of songs, which could also be labelled 'symphony', is based on 'Die chinesische Flöte' (The Chinese Flute), a series of Chinese poems about nature and life. For Mahler, this work means a point of no return: the tragic death of his four-year-old daughter and the diagnosis of his own heart disorder left the composer in a depressed mood. Accordingly, the work appears to express Mahler's personal farewell from life.
2020 will undoubtedly go down in history as that maligned year in which a tiny virus turned the world upside down. Still, this very same year a previous event was so overwhelming for each of us that it will eventually blur the corona crisis. Reinbert de Leeuw's death in mid-February ended a particularly intense nine-year collaboration between him and us. With the recording last January of Reinbert's version for ensemble of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, we helped him fulfil his last wish. In September this recording was released in Amsterdam and at Fondation Royaumont. The Belgian première was in Brussels on 17 March 2021 for KLARAFESTIVAL - BOZAR MUSIC at La Monnaie.
You can discover this live concert on PODIUM 19.
We have received more than 35 international CD reviews. Discover them all here below.
14.09.2019 Festival de Saintes (F) - Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
29-30.12 & 02.01.2020 Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ Amsterdam (NL) - recording sessions - Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor
11.09.2020 Muziekgebouw 't IJ Amsterdam (NL) - Gregor Mayrhofer, conductor
13.09.2020 Fondation Royaumont (F) - Gregor Mayrhofer, conductor
18.09.2020 CD release Alpha Classics
17.03.2021 KLARAFESTIVAL / BOZAR Brussels (B)
27.02.2022 TivoliVredenburg Utrecht (NL)
16.03.2024 Festival Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo (Monaco)
Reinbert de Leeuw / Gregor Mayrhofer, conductor
Lucile Richardot, mezzo soprano
Yves Saelens, tenor
Het Collectief
Thomas Dieltjens, piano
Dirk Luijmes, harmonium
Wibert Aerts, violin
Liesbeth Baelus, violin
Veronika Lenartova / Paul De Clerck, alto
Martijn Vink, cello
Jonathan Focquaert / David Jay Murray, double bass
Piet Van Bockstal, hobo & English horn
Toon Fret, flute & piccolo
Julien Hervé / Bruno Bonansea, clarinet
Nele Delafonteyne, (bass)clarinet
Pieter Nuytten, (double) bassoon
Bruce Richards / Eliz Erkalp, French horn
Tom De Cock / Miguel Sanchez Cobo, percussion
Astrid Haring, harpe
