Reinoud Van Mechelen & a nocte temporis: Beethoven & von Weber - Scottish Songs

Reinoud Van Mechelen will end his residency at AMUZ with a trek through the Scottish Highlands. This is the perfect sequel to the program The Dubhlinn Gardens, in which a nocte temporis reestablished the link between Irish folk and Baroque music a few years ago. Now the music is taking them onwards and upwards with a fine selection of songs from, about or connected to Scotland. Both Ludwig van Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber adapted Scottish songs for classical instruments. The playlist ranges from traditionals and arrangements to the German lied, with Beethoven’s only song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte. In these six compositions, we see the composer in a different light: expressive yet introverted, at one moment calming and benevolent, then bursting with desire at the next. The highlight of this Romantic Odyssey comes in two movements from his fabulous Symphony no. 7, adapted for the fortepiano, flute, violin and cello: a brilliant retelling that invites us to rediscover his masterpiece, ‘the apotheosis of dance’, as Richard Wagner called it.