Sunday in the Park

Venlo, 7 August 2005

On the first Sunday in August 2005 me and my wife were invited by a friend in Venlo, The Netherlands. There was a yearly ‘Klassiek op locatie’ event, series of classical music concerts that held in unique and interesting places in Venlo and surrounding areas.
The event has been always a popular event in Venlo, with good musicians and best locations. They have held concerts in various places such as castle, church, park, museum, even in prison.

The concert that we visited was held in Auxiliatrixpark, a green park within the nursing complex for elderly or chronically ill people. The location is peaceful but magnificent, green grass, big trees, and coincidentally they had sculptures exhibition in the park. For the concert they set a small round stage in the middle of the park and chairs for about 150-200 audiences.

We arrived around 3 in the afternoon, an hour before the show. We observed that the audiences in majority were elderly people, and some local residents on power wheelchair (wheelchair with engine). The weather was mild cold, around 17 degree, rainy, but the show was a sold out! As precaution, they put tent roof on the stage and audience place.

About the musician, Grupetto Ensemble is a Belgium quintet playing light classical music with specific historical themes. For this event they performed three themes, which are “The Last Waltz of the Titanic”, “In Flanders’ Fields”, and “Marlene Dietrich, Falling in love Again”.

The first part was the tribute to the musician of the Titanic. It was performed in composition of two violins, a clarinet, a cello, and a piano. They brought the situation back to the time of Titanic journey, with narration between the repertoires describing the performance sequence since the ship started in Southampton until it sank. The performed pieces were popular songs in 1900-1910 decade, salon orchestra songs with waltz tunes and American ragtime music. A touching moment when the band played "Nearer, my God, to Thee", an old man also sang the sad song. What a nostalgic melancholy.

The second part was about the First World War in Flemish region of Belgium. Again, the band was able to bring the audiences back to the past with the pieces that they performed. They opened the part with Réveil, the military waking call, and closed it with The Last Post, the standard military funeral tune. In between they interestingly mixed the favorite soldiers’ tunes, classical compositions from Debussy and Stravinsky that inspired by the war, and a new piece composed by the cellist of the Grupetto. The audiences joined the singing in the It's a long way to Tipperary.

After these two sets we had a chance to break, enjoyed refreshment drink and discussed the performance. The general comment was that the band highly exceeded our expectations! Personally I was in open mind mode since I never know the songs before, and I could appreciate and enjoy it.

Back from the break with Réveil call by the band, we enjoyed a different set. The set introduced a female singer to bring us back to Berlin around year 1930, time when the city was the central of music and entertainment, period when Marlene Dietrich was a famous actress.

The band performed highlights of Marlene, the majority were German songs, with mixture of strings or brass arrangements. In one of the songs the band used ‘musical saw’, which basically used a saw as violin. The musician placed the saw handle between the legs and held the other end with one hand. The combination of drawing the violin bow across the edge of the saw and bending the saw produced an eerie sound.

In general we were very pleased with the performance of the band. They were able to play multiple instruments like switching from strings to brass and able to bring nostalgic nuances with their songs. The vocal quality of the singer also suitable for the old tunes. The location also made the event better, with the peaceful park and also some showers during the show.

Another interesting fact was about the audiences. Since most were old people that once lived in the era of the songs, they were really enjoying the songs. Even some could follow the popular songs and sang loudly with the band. It was quite emotional experience to watch the old people happy. And it made me hope that even 50 years later I still can find someone performs Genesis, so I still can shout (well..sing..er..maybe humming)…’Me, I’m just a lawnmower, you can tell me by the way I walk. Walk!’

Complete performed songs list:
The Last Waltz of the Titanic
1. Passing of Salome (A. Joyce)
2. Apache's Dance (J. Offenbach)
3. Vision of Salome (A. Joyce)
4. Alexander's Ragtime Band (I. Berlin)
5. Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life (V. Herbert)
6. By the Light of the Silvery Moon (G. Edwards)
7. Shine on Harvest Moon (J. Norworth)
8. Nearer, my God, to Thee (L. Mason)
9. Songe d' Automne (A. Joyce)

In Flanders' Fields
1. Réveil
2. Niemandslandsmarch (H. Eisler)
3. Armeemarsch 606 (P. Hindemith)
4. The Soldier's March (I. Stravinsky)
5. Berceuse Héroique (C. Debussy)
6. It's a long way to Tipperary (J. Judge & H. Williams)
7. Blighty Blues (V. Biesemans)
8. The Last Post

Marlene Dietrich, Falling in love Again
1 Wenn die Elisabeth nicht so schöne Beine hätt (R.Katscher/H.Gardens)
2 You're the cream in my Coffee (de Sylva, Brown, Henderson)
3 Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt (F.Hollaender)
4 Ich bin die fesche Lola (F.Hollaender)
5 Spatzenkonzert (Boerschel/Burkhardt/Stolzenwald)
6 Nimm dich in acht vor blonden Frau'n (F.Hollaender)
7 Quand l'amour meurt (Crémieux/Robin/Millandy)
8 Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte (F.Hollaender)
9 Jonny (F.Hollander)
10 Pagan Love Song (N.H.Brown)
11 Lilli Marlene (H.Leip/N.Schultze)
12 The Boys in the Backroom (F.Hollander)
13 Nach meine Beene ist ja ganz Berlin verrückt (W.Kallo)
(Might be incorrect since the band played in different order from the distributed concert programme.)

Grupetto Ensemble:
Jo Vercruysse: Violin, trumpet, percussion
Henk Soenen: Clarinets, saxophone
Bruno de Schaepdrijver: Alto Violin, trumpet
Valentijn Biesemans: Cello, contrabass, musical saw
Jan Lust: Piano, percussion

Hannelore Muyllaert: Singer

Notes:
More information about the Grupetto Ensemble can be found in their web site, http://www.grupetto.be/.
More information about the ‘Klassiek op locatie’ event can be found in the event's web site, http://www.klassiekoplocatie.nl/