BREWAEYS Painted Pyramids. Si Sentiva Un Po’Stanco. Black Roof Unfolding. Les Méandres de la Mémoire. OBAN. Il Fume del Tempo Passava • Jaan Bossier, cond; Champ d’Action • ET’CETERA 1408 (71: 24)

In the book Contemporary Music In Europe: A Comprehensive Survey (Schirmer) published in 1965, Albert Vander Linden, in his chapter “Belgium from 1914 to 1964,” concluded that despite the richness of the country’s musical scene and the sustained governmental support it has received, there has been no specifically Flemish style of modern composition, but that its practitioners were “susceptible to all external influences,” primarily German Romanticism, French Impressionism, Italian verismo, and Russian nationalism. Interestingly enough, in his CD booklet essay, Maarten Beirens uses the same premise to explain the contemporary cosmopolitan compositional perspective of Luc Brewaeys (b.1959), whose music reflects his studies with Franco Donatoni, Brian Ferneyhough, and Iannis Xenakis, as well as a penchant for the French “spectralist” branch of composers.

Nevertheless, it could be argued that Brewaeys has synthesized his influences in an original way. Although he does exhibit an ear fine-tuned toward a “spectral” relationship of harmonies, he exaggerates these effects with broad swaths of microtones and occasionally harmonically ambiguous electronics; realigns them with complex, frequently contrasting rhythmic patterns; and throws in some fiendishly difficult instrumental demands à la the “New Complexity.” In works like Si Sentiva un Po’Stanco (2001) for solo trumpet and Les Méandres de la Mémoire (1997) for recorder(s) and piano, he challenges the performers by extending the range of the instruments and exposing their rapidly fluctuating, treacherously phrased schemes. The more densely textured ensemble pieces like Painted Pyramids (2008), in which a previously composed piano solo (Pyramids in Siberia) is set into a bright new contrapuntal environment, and OBAN (1996), whose ripe, pungent, closely related timbres are meant to evoke some of the characteristics of the Scotch whiskey of the same name (proving that inspiration can come from anywhere), are indicative of the edgy, aggressive drama that results from the clash of his rigid and rash rhythms. Likewise, Black Rock Unfolding (2009) pits the cello’s flamboyant jolts and flurries against electronics capable of “freezing” and distorting the cello sounds or injecting distinctive chiming or clattering textures.

The 17-piece Champ d’Action, founded in Antwerp in 1988, specializes in contemporary music, and displays Brewaeys’s formidable scores in the best possible light. Listeners appreciative of the music of Elliott Carter, the late Milton Babbitt, or any of the composers named above may wish to discover what Brewaeys is doing.

FANFARE: Art Lange