Journey Under Brilliant Skies, Three Etudes, Old Songs, New Songs

Ralph van Raat
Phion, Orchestra of Gelderland & Overijssel
Otto Tausk

Journey Under Brilliant Skies (2021) is almost a study of the role of the pianist within the piece. The soloist is the driving force behind the ensemble and in this role he speaks almost continuously, except in the beginning of the second movement where he is silent. It is essential here that the degree of presence of the soloist constantly fluctuates. This concept brings about a general fusion of roles, in which the soloist and the orchestra operate in complete harmony. This is immediately apparent from the very first entrance of the orchestra: the entrance comes in unexpectedly, in the middle of the pianist’s solo, but it doesn’t interrupt or dominate.

Although the music initially evokes a distant echo of Bach, Joep Franssens has fully adapted this influence to his own time: the many bar changes follow the natural length of the asymmetrical melodic phrases within a stirring, almost endless framework of continuous pulse, in which the orchestration is warm, lush, and generous. The hopeful opening movement disappears into thin air, as it were, as if the sound has ebbed away after high tide; it is not surprising that the composer spends a lot of his time on the coast, where he experiences the ultimate union between mankind and nature. Every now and then, the sound of the orchestra overwhelms the soloist’s many notes, which are almost imperceptible by the way they blend into the orchestra. However, this happens as naturally as the tides on a beach, which will resurface hours later as if reborn: the continuous movement in the orchestra is suddenly made audibly crystal clear by the pianist playing alone at the end of the first movement.