Oorkaan’s theater concerts – for children aged four to one hundred and four – are based on a method devised by artistic director Caecilia Thunnissen: only musicians populate the stage and there are no words, music and bodies have to tell the story. As far as there is a story. Because apart from the changing relationships between four young musicians who challenge each other and at times flow together, there is no narrative in Four!†
On the stage floor are clarinetist Michele Mazzini in a blue jacket, the gray percussionist Veysel Dzhesur, with crumpled paper in the shoulders and sleeves of his jacket, the yellow magician Robbrecht Van Cauwenberghe with wand and bajan (the Russian variant of the accordion), and finally, in red, the harpist Michela Zanoni. The music is of oriental style, with Mozarts Rondo alla Turca as a stepping stone, followed by Turkish folk melodies, arrangements by Fazil Say and new work by Steven Kamperman and Emre Sihan Kaleli. The clarinet serves as binoculars, bells as blinkers, bows as stabbing weapons and drums are played with lollipops. The music speaks for itself, the sounds form the characters and dialogues.
Halfway through, when the musicians venture into a complicated game that largely takes place behind moving screens, the performance collapses a bit. In this phase, the associative act breaks up the musicians: an hour without a clear and exciting storyline proves difficult. Using only facial expressions requires a greater acting talent than when you have words at your disposal. Thus Thunnissen’s Caecilia Triangle, in which musicians, music and action converge, can become a Bermuda triangle in which interpreters and listeners get lost. On the other hand, you would like to experience something of her physical-musical approach more often in current concert practice.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 28, 2022
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