Wouter Lenaerts

Logos

Logos' was written especially to celebrate 150 years of the 'Koninklijke Harmonie van Herent' and Kris Stroobants was commissioned to conduct it. The premier took place on 18 November 2006 in the Lemmens Institute in Leuven where the jubilee orchestra came together with a 200 strong mixed chorus. To find the origins of the 'Koninklijke Harmonie van Herent' 'Logos' takes us back to the spring of 1856. A group of friends and music lovers from Herent decided to set up an orchestra called the 'Fanfare de Hérent'. One of the founding members, Paul Edward van Eycken, organist and former mayor of Herent, composed 'Le Fondateur' especially for the occasion. It is precisely this hymn that traverses through 'Logos' and from which the first notes will be echoed in the trumpet and flute register. An impressionistic atmosphere appears out of nothing and the dreamy flute solo transports us back to the peaceful beginning years of the orchestra. Despite it being in its early stages there was dispute and dissatisfaction amongst the musicians; the rhythm becomes increasingly more turbulent and brings us to the first climax: the 'Fanfare of Herent' breaks up' The orchestra is split into a 'blekken' (drums) and 'brass' fanfare. Both orchestras rapidly begin to compete with each other and gradually they develop into thriving societies. A festive melody accompanies us into its first period of glory. When the First World War broke out in 1914, times were also hard in Herent. The brass and percussion sections signal calamity. Hundreds of buildings were reduced to ashes and for the most part, the rooms, scores and instruments of both orchestras also went up in flames. A plaintive choral melody invokes an empty atmosphere as a reminder of those miserable war years. Finally, it is precisely because of this setback that the musicians from each fanfare were again brought closer together, and when Belgium was liberated in 1918, the orchestras were reunited. In memory of their common founder, the entire 'Le Fondateur' hymn resounds for the first time from the carillon. The festive principle theme quickly follows, bringing us once more to a new high point. Just for a moment the dreamy flute melody once again shines through, and with the founding hymn in the trumpet register we reach an immense climax that gazes forward to a thriving future'