Philippe Thuriot

Welcome to the 19th edition of Klarafestival! The theme Crossroads - Come Together keenly evokes the convergence of the audience, the artists and their inspiring concerts. A meeting place where the leading lights of international classical music enter into dialogue with challenging creations and young talent. 

The inspiration for this edition comes from festival artist Claron McFadden. As she told us in an interview, “I stand at a crossroads where styles and generations cross, meet, and collide”. This notion forms the core of the programme. We hope you will enjoy Klarafestival as a sanctuary of hope, polyphony and beauty in all its forms. As a place where the familiar takes on new meaning and where new experiences take you by surprise. 

Jan Raes, chairman

Joost Fonteyne, intendant

Chantal Pattyn, manager Klara

Enchanting Scarlatti

Accordionist Philippe Thuriot doesn’t only play the repertoire that is specifically composed for his instrument. In the past, he has transposed the music of François Couperin and Johann Sebastian Bach for his instrument. He is now venturing into performing sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti.

As a young musician, Scarlatti was already renowned as a harpsichord virtuoso. One legend tells how, in Rome in 1707, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni organised a musical duel between Scarlatti and Georg Friedrich Handel, to decide who best played the harpsichord. There was no winner, the audience finding that both harpsichordists were equally audacious. From 1719, Scarlatti worked as music director at the court of King João V in Lisbon. He was responsible for composing music for special occasions; he also had to teach the king’s daughter, Maria Barbara. The lessons bore fruit because after a time Maria Barbara was astonishing everyone at court with her proficiency at singing, harpsichord playing and composing. In 1727, Maria Barbara married Crown Prince Ferdinand VI of Spain. She moved to Spain and Scarlatti followed his employer to her new homeland.   

Scarlatti taught Maria Barbara for no less than 37 years. He therefore had to be constantly composing new music. His catalogue of works contains no less than 555 sonatas for keyboard! Only 30 sonatas were published during Scarlatti’s life, in the collection Essercizi per gravicembalo (London, 1739). All the sonatas in the collection are in binary form, whereby each section is repeated, resulting in an AABB structure. The thematic material of both sections is closely related. Scarlatti composed only sonata number 30 (‘fugue’) in one single movement. 

In his foreword, Scarlatti humbly excused himself: ‘Reader, do not expect, whether you are dilettante or teacher, to find any serious purpose in these compositions; rather a clever pretence in the art, for you to practise the precise playing of the harpsichord. No standpoint or ambition was my guide, but deference persuaded me to publish. Perhaps they will please you, in which case I will follow with other instructions to gladden you, with an easier and more varied style. For this reason, show yourself no more a judge than a critic, and thereby increase your own pleasure. To indicate hand position I use the letter D for the right hand, and the letter M for the left hand. Live happily.’      

In an interview with Frederic Delmotte, Philippe Thuriot explains more about the programme he has compiled.  

FD – In the past, you’ve performed music by Johann Sebastian Bach on accordion. What led you to play music by Domenico Scarlatti?

PT – In almost every conservatory where classical accordion is taught, music originally composed for harpsichord is in the performance programme; music by composers such as Jean-Philippe Rameau, François Couperin and Scarlatti. That’s now become a tradition. I myself came across this as an 18-year-old. That repertoire is important in training for virtuosity. Bach’s music touches another concept of virtuosity – it’s about mental virtuosity. Scarlatti’s music tends more often towards folk music. The accordion is above all a folk instrument. I knew that, as I gained maturity, I would have to return to working with Scarlatti. I feel a greater connection to his music than to that of Bach. I enjoy playing folk music and jazz and the dance-like characteristic is clearly present in Scarlatti’s music. You can allow yourself more lightheartedness.  

FD – Scarlatti wrote his keyboard sonatas as practice material for his student, Maria Barbara. How do you convert keyboard practice pieces into practice material for the accordion?  

PT – By changing absolutely nothing, it’s that simple. The harpsichord is closer to the accordion than the piano. I think it has to do with the harpsichord’s timbre, which is quite thin and transparent. On the other hand, the timbre of the piano is much darker. The accordion produces higher tone colours, like the harpsichord. One big difference is that accordion tones are produced by air, while on the harpsichord the strings are plucked. So it’s no work at all for me to transpose the music, but it’s the performance that is very different. The harpsichord tone automatically fades quickly, even more quickly than on the piano, where you still have the sustain pedal. The accordion’s tone continues to sound, as long as you supply air. So that’s the challenge for me; how do you round off an accordion tone the way one hears it happen on a harpsichord?

FD – Another big difference with the harpsichord is that the accordion can be played with greater dynamic contrasts.  

PT – There’s certainly a danger lurking there. It’s an unusually dynamic instrument. How far does one push the dynamics? I’m sure that some will find what I do blasphemous, and I therefore wish to apologise right now (laughter). When you perform Scarlatti on the piano you also have to consider how far you wish to go. Another difference with the piano is that on the accordion we also have orchestral possibilities. The ability to crescendo the sound, to play with tone colour and the like are both a gift and a risk.   

FD – What were your criteria when selecting the sonatas from the Essercizi for your concert?

PT – I was guided by the many performances I heard when adjudicating at international competitions. I heard so many interesting things there. I’ve also listened to many performances by the students I’ve coached at the conservatory in Ghent. I don’t find all the sonatas to be equally important, and then again some really stick to one. I don’t have a ready answer. Some sonatas are too much like studies. What I have discovered however are sonatas with a truly great soul. Many of the selected sonatas have a melancholy character, which is highlighted further by the accordion, because the accordion is quite simply a melancholy instrument. Scarlatti’s music is both scintillating and melancholic, and we can’t always understand why so many music lovers love Scarlatti’s music.

FD – Scarlatti was known as a talented improviser. You will also be improvising between sonatas.  Will this be in the Baroque style, along the lines found in 18th-century tracts?   

PT – I can’t improvise à la baroque, that’s not really what interests me. I use personal, contemporary resources, though naturally I stick closely to the sonata itself. The intention is for my improvisations and the sonatas to blend seamlessly together. I hope that the audience will take a few seconds to realise that I’m playing a sonata. I certainly like to wrongfoot the listener a little bit. But I hope to make my improvisations as agreeable as possible, as elegant as Domenico is in his sonatas.    

Philippe Thuriot

Belgian accordionist Philippe Thuriot constantly moves between improvisation, classical music, jazz and musical theatre. He has played in various orchestras and ensembles, including Ictus, Het Collectief, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and Klangforum Wien and went on several international tours with performances of Alain Platel's Les Ballets C de la B. Thuriot has also created contemporary accordion concertos by composers such as Peter Vermeersch, Dick Van der Harst and Dirk D'Ase. With Warner Classics, he released several CD recordings with arrangements of, among others, Bach's Goldberg Variations and music by Ravel and Couperin.