WIM HENDERICKX (b.1962): Tejas (What does the sound of the universe look like?), Skriet, Le visioni di paura, Variations.

Description: The main work here, and by well over a decade the most recent, is Tejas, a vast orchestral canvas that deals with various aspects of cosmology, viewed at least in part from the standpoint of Indian philosophy. Beginning with a dissonant orchestral upheaval, a primordial sonic 'Big Bang', the work then progresses through a number of sections which run the gamut from massive structures reminiscent of Messiaen or Bruckner to delicate threads of solo or small ensemble textures. Fragments of melody or fanfares stand out in relief against a background of sonorous plasticity, punctuated by denser gravitational centers with a greater sense of conventional harmony; ethereal chords or noise textures on the edge of silence are brusquely interrupted by motoric pounding dances related to Le sacre. Skriet (after Munch's 'The Scream') is far more linear, and more consistently tonal; a headlong flight toward a final, silent, scream. Le visioni after Bosch is an unsettling journey through a landscape of sonorous brooding shadows and abrupt incidents of violence. The early Variations explores the same abrupt contrasts, but in more conventional, sequential form. Royal Flemish Philharmonic; Martyn Brabbins.