An all-encompassing world of pure and universal beauty, angelic elegance, passionate lyricism and ingenious architecture: Mozart’s music is a gift from heaven. Seductive and generous and yet pure and innocent, it is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and musical joy. How can we reach the essence of Mozart’s creative genius and the subtlety of his art? How do we, humbly yet ambitiously, gain an insight into the rich profusion of his masterpieces?
Keyboard instruments have always been used by composers to shape their musical language: from Bach to Dutilleux or Ligeti, via Beethoven, Schumann or Bartók, a keyboard has always played an important role in the creative process. There are also a great number of historical references that reveal the importance of the piano reduc- tion in making new works available to music-lovers of the time, as many symphonic masterpieces were first heard in reduced versions in pri- vate homes before being performed in the great concert halls. Stripped of orchestral frills and reduced to its essence, the music may perhaps have even gained in expressive power, as the homogeneous sound of the piano often makes a dissonance seem stronger than when it is played by two different instruments, who may well be metres apart as well.
Thanks to the piano’s precise touch, every rhythmic detail is refined and clear. Think for a moment of the initially more attractive hues of a colour photograph, and then compare it to the austere power and clearly delineated shapes and textures of a black-and-white photograph.
We decided to approach Mozart and his oeuvre from this angle in an attempt not only to get to the heart of his music and to highlight its modernity, but also to share our great enthusiasm for the reductions for two pianos with you. Our programme includes works from three of the musical forms in which Mozart excelled: opera, the symphony, and the sonata.
Hans Ryckelynck
Hans Ryckelynck studied with Johan Duijck at the Ghent Royal Conservatory of Music and at the Queen Elisabeth College of Music, from which he obtained the Concert Diploma, summa cum laude. He continued his studies with the world-famous pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha in Paris.
As a soloist he regularly performs in recitals in Belgium and he has given concerts throughout Europe, China and Japan.
His chamber music partners include, amongst others, Jean-Michel Dayez (piano), Eliot Lawson (violon), Yuki Hori (violin), Jan Sciffer (cello), Bram Nolf (oboe), Luc Loubry (bassoon), Eliz Erkalp (horn), Hendrik and Ludo Ide (Piano Trio “I Giocatori”). He has also performed with the Danel String quartet, the Belgian National Orchestra, Casco Phil, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the Flemish Radio Choir.
He was awarded the “Belgian Artistic Promotion” Prize of Sabam, the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers and is a laureate of the “Belgian Vocation Foundation” and the Tenuto competition.
His discography comprises about fifteen CD recordings which were highly acclaimed by both the Belgian and international press and broadcasted by radio and television in Belgium and abroad.
Hans Ryckelynck has also established an excellent reputation as a piano pedagogue. He is a Professor at the Mons Royal Conservatory of Music (ARTS2) and an Assistant Professor at the Brussels Royal Conservatory of Music.
Jean-Michel Dayez
First trained in Lille, then at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium by Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, and finally at the “Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse” of Paris, Jean-Michel Dayez now blossoms on stage, as a soloist but also as a chamber musician.
Prizewinner of the Antwerp International Competition and the Meyer and Emile Bernheim foundations, he has since been involved in many musical projects. A keen chamber musician, he is a member of the Arties collective, with whom he travels the world. He takes part in numerous recitals with singers, actors, video artists, etc.
Jean-Michel Dayez has recorded Fauré’s complete music for cello and piano with Xavier Gagnepain (5 Diapasons, Editor’s choice of The Times), Beethoven’s complete sonatas for cello and piano with Nicolas Deletaille, a monographic disc of the composer Vincent Paulet, and Beethoven’s first three trios with the Leos trio (5 Diapasons). His latest recording, “Chausson Le littéraire”, was chosen as “disc of the year” by France Musique.
Holder of the “Musical Aptitude Certificate”, he teaches willingly at the Royal Conservatory of Mons (Belgium), as well as at the ESMD (École Supérieure de Musique et de Danse) and the Conservatory of Lille.
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