Maartje van Weegen brings sole movement to 'Diary of a cello'

Based on an idea by Marieke Stordiau, bassoonist in the Hexagon Ensemble, Joost Galema, journalist and programmer, writes texts that deal with tree dreams, music and time. This creates Diary of a Cello, a piece that challenges the listener to think about the connections between nature and music. The premiere of Diary of a cello took place at the Amesfoort theatre De Flint on 16 September 2016.

What can visitors expect? Maartje van Weegen, presenter of several TV and radio programmes, reads texts from a diary during this performance. She explains that she got the diary through an old neighbour, who greeted her every day until recently. Now he has passed away and Maartje reveals the contents to us. It soon turns out that the diary was not written by a human but by a ... cello.

Sensitive

Ingeniously, lyricist Joost Galema links music, history and nature stories with well-chosen musical arrangements. It begins with a tree that dreams of becoming a cello since a medieval minstrel sang a song under its branches. When famous instrument maker Antonio Stradivari saws a piece of wood from the tree and turns it into the most important part of a cello - the soul - we land in Italy around the year 1700.

Plastically but sensitively, Galema points to the soul - and thus soon to the cello - as the link between the higher that music symbolises and the earthly of the here and now. The tree's dream comes true: sandwiched between the top and bottom of the cello corpus, it begins its voyage of discovery through the human world. He does not really understand the musicians' emotions.

World War II

We get close to Vivaldi and hear stories about his activities in a Venetian orphanage. We get to know Haydn and his interest in the stars. We are taken back and forth by sadness and love of cellists. The most poignant story is about World War II, where the art of music stands in stark contrast to the horrors.

The charming Israeli - Dutch cellist Timora Rosler interprets the main character of the diary in her own sublime way. She easily takes the audience on a journey through the centuries. The Hexagon Ensemble, consisting of five woodwind players and a pianist, is an excellent fit for this innovative musical experience and manages to touch the audience with original arrangements and interpretations.

Metronome

Still, the evening remains somewhat static and monotonous to watch. The only dynamism comes from Maartje van Weegen, who moves from right to left on stage after the end of one piece of music and before the start of another like a pendulum of a metronome. Fairytale-like, she emphatically clarifies the sounding music. Only once does she fall from her perfection as she searches for a lost letter, which should answer an open question of the past (unnecessarily?) in the present.

The stage is brightly lit. The musicians sit on it in a circle, and whether they play or not they always have a poker face. This disturbs the subtlety of the inner experience. A little tip for director Christine Ewert : with adapted, dimmed lighting and musicians playing standing, the viewer would manage to stay in the atmosphere of the text and with the music without fail. Especially since the performance is also meant for children. Otherwise, it might be better to experience the exciting and instructive musical story with your eyes closed.