For my 2nd major CD production flutist Julie Moulin and cellist Stephan Heber set out with me and my regular pianist Jan Paul Grijpink in a sparkling French-language program: Éternelle Dualité ~ Songs of Love and War.
Those two opposites seem irreconcilable, but often have their roots in a similar existential need – our everlasting search for spiritual companionship.
This CD goes on a journey into the realms of those great emotions that define our being and actions so strongly. Be seduced by Caplet’s invisible flute, hear Dallapiccola causing Charlemagne to have ominous dreams, immerse yourself in Duparc’s impenetrable melancholy, Massenet’s gripping passion, Wagner’s Francophile patriotism and Ravel’s exotic extravagance. The unusual cast of voice, piano, cello and flute is rarely found in other compositions and it was also clear that on our search in ‘Fin de siècle’ musical France, one could quickly lose oneself in the sweetly soporific mode of the ethereal shepherd’s flute music. So we took arranger and composer Wijnand van Klaveren on board. He wrote some marvellous arrangements for our group resulting in 7 world premiers on this CD.