Westerlinck, Wilfried

Wilfried Westerlinck – Landscapes IV for flute, harp and string trio

(Leuven, 3 October 1945)

(1981)

Wilfried Westerlinck studied at the Royal Conservatoires of Brussels and Antwerp under composers such as Victor Legley, Jan Louël and August Verbesselt, as well as under composer-conductor Daniël Sternefeld. In Monte Carlo he continued studying orchestral conducting under Igor Markevitch. Between 1971 and 1983, he taught music analysis at the Royal Flemish Conservatoire of Antwerp, however, he built a career as a producer of the classical radio station of the Flemish Belgian Radio and Television (BRT). As a composer he came into the spotlight with the orchestral piece Metamorfose (1971), his series Landschappen (1977-2020) for various ensembles, three string quartets (1978- 1994), three piano sonatas (1983-1986) and various solo pieces for wind instruments, such as the often performed Kijk, een basklarinet in mijn tuin! (Look, there’s a bass clarinet in my garden!) (1985) for bass clarinet, Talisman (2001) for clarinet and Meeting a Mockingbird in Texas (2009) for piccolo. In 2015 and 2018 the albums Mockingbird and Talisman were released, which included more recent works like Quattro pezzi for clarinet and harp (2007-2015), Three collages ‘Hommage to E.L.T. Mesens’ for flute and harp (2013-2014) and Suite de Montsouris for violin and guitar (2014).

Landscapes IV belongs to a series of nine Landscapes, all one-volume works for different instrumentations:

Landscapes I – Wind Quintet
Landscapes II – String orchestra
Landscapes III – Brass Quintet
Landscapes IV – Flute, harp and string trio
Landscapes V – Trumpet and strings
Landscapes VI – String quartet
Landscapes VII – Clarinet and string quartet
Landscapes VIII – Alto saxophone and strings
Landscapes IX – Piano quartet

The first series (I – V) came about fairly quickly in the years 1977-1983, after which Westerlinck took until 2008 to set up a second series, using a slightly more moderate idiom.

Landscapes IV was written by Westerlinck at the request of the Daphnis Ensemble, consisting of Paul Vanwolleghem (flute), Annie Lavoisier (harp), Dirk Vermeulen (violin), Kris Van Severen (viola) and Daniël Vanneste (cello). The composition of this ensemble was identical to the Quintette instrumental de Paris by the renowned harpist Pierre Jamet (1893-1991), for which composers such as Germaine Tailleferre, André Jolivet and Albert Roussel provided works.

After a rather improvisational and tumultuous first episode and short transition, a lively development follows as a contrast. It is here that the flute makes its appearance and enters into an interplay with the violin in which they pursue each other. This culminates in a dreamy transition in which the composer incorporates a fragment from a piano piece by August De Boeck. A reprise of the Molto vivace passage eventually leads to an expanding coda.
Landscapes IV was premiered by the Daphnis Ensemble in 1981 in Aalst. The harpist Sophie Hallynck’s Arpae Ensemble recorded the work on CD (Phaedra, In Flanders’ Fields, vol. 12).

Jan Dewilde (based on information provided by the composer)
(translation: Jasmien Dewilde)

This score is published in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Flemish Music (www.svm.be).

read Flemish preface / Deutsches Vorwort lesen … > HERE