Lagrimas

LAGRIMAS (Tears of Hope) for seven musicians was commissioned by deFilharmonie/Royal Flemish Philharmonic and later Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, in 2016. The image of the Madonna della Macarena in Seville was the inspiration for this work. For Henderickx, Lagrimas were also tears of hope. Hope instead of fear and violence in difficult times. The work has the same instrumental instrumentation as Maurice Ravel's “Introduction et Allegro”, for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet. In Ravel's work, the harp plays a central role in the concerto idea. In Lagrimas, the wind instruments, strings and harp are more or less equal. At times, it is wind instruments versus strings, with the harp as the catalyst. Nine separate episodes flow into one another, each with its own character, ranging from almost complete stillness to exuberant energy. Some parts are notated rhythmically with precision, while others allow the performers enormous freedom, suggesting a non-linear perception of time. The idea of space is found exclusively in the score, not in the arrangement of the instruments. It is truly chamber music, with musicians communicating with each other, deliberately without a conductor. Inspiration from non-Western music is clearly audible in this work. Since 2013, Wim Henderickx has been artist in residence with deFilharmonie/Royal Flemish Philharmonic and later Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. He particularly enjoyed being able to compose chamber music for this orchestra in addition to large orchestral works.