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  • Another Adagio on the list: Guillaume Lekeu

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    Next to Barber's Adagio and some other highlights in the classical repertoire, there could be one added imo: the (late romantic) Adagio for strings by Guillaume Lekeu (January 20, 1870 – January 21, 1894), a Belgian composer and pupil of César Franck and Vincent d'Indy. By accident I heard this piece and was overwhelmed immediately. It was written when he was only 21, which is hard to believe given the emotional depth of this work: most probably an in memoriam of his teacher Franck.

    The score says: solo violin, solo viola, solo violoncello, four violin parts, two viola parts, two violoncello parts and one contrabass part. But there is a passage with even also more divisi parts: 6x violin, 4 x viola and 4 x violoncello (which makes 18 different parts). A mockup of such a complex piece for strings is often not very grateful to do, but I simply couldn't resist the adventure, that's why. To prevent a muddy and non-transparent result I have chosen for solo instruments and small section patches (just like in all Youtube versions I have heard and seen). Eventually I have used a what I would call somewhat 'obscure' mix of instruments in this version for the small string ensemble. For the solo violin, viola and violoncello I have used the VSL Solo Strings, hence this contribution to the forum: this library is still unsurpassed imo.

    This piece has been a great challenge in virtual instrumentation for strings for me. The extended handling of strings by Lekeu requires a.o. muted passages, third up to fifth tremolos (also muted) and moreover a very expressive quality of patches themselves and of course treatment.

    Well, here is my "interpretation" of this piece: of course if I would do this piece again it would be different from this one, but it is just 'as presented'. The same for the mix itself btw. There are at least three different versions on YouTube, all played by real chamber string ensembles. This virtual version takes 10'22''. As you will notice there are many different tempi (and consequently lenghts) possible.

    Comments are welcome. More info about Lekeu and this piece are on the same linked page as mentioned hereabove.


  • Erik, this is great to hear!  I was not aware of this composer.  The main theme does seem influenced by Komm Suesser Tod.  It is a very fine work.  The contrasting middle section is like a moment of happiness surrounded by sorrow.  You did a great job on this. The only criticial things I can think of are you could use some of the big VSL ensembles as a contrast to the solo sounds. The high section violins sounded thin - was that Session Strings?   Also, I don't think it would be muddy with Appassionata and more reverb - somehow I wanted it more ambient because it could then be in a big sorrowful space.  I remember hearing a great Stokowski recording of Bach's Komm Suesser Tod that was very reverberant and that added to the pathos. 

    However, those are small matters and this is an excellent production!


  • Hi William,

    Thanks for your kind and inspiring words! I knew Lekeu from his violin sonate btw, but was completely not aware of the existence of this masterpiece.

    It is a nice suggestion of implementing one of the big VSL ensembles, indeed the violin section is Session Strings Pro (which is rather thin in general) plus some XSample violins added, also not famous for its warm and lush sound, to say the least. The choice for the instruments in the current version was mainly to avoid phasing and also an experiment in layering different products.

    I have heard a anonymous MP3 lately with a much more overall lush sound sound than the three examples on youtube, so in real life there must exist also this bigger version somewhere. I will certainly do another version with more VSL added.
    William, Would you go for the orchestra or the appassionata here in this case? I mean, there are at least four violin parts with one very important in contrapunctal way. Maybe I could point the first violin viola, violoncello and bass parts to the VSL Appassionata to start with. But that still leaves three violin parts, one viola part one violoncello part, not to mention that crazy 18 part passage.

    If you have some further suggestions (or anyone else here), please let me know. And of course it is no effort at all to remake the first version with a longer verb. I will do this asap. Just nice to compare.

    Erik


  •  I think maybe I felt that Appassionata should be used precisely because it is an extreme contrast to the detailed, more intimate sound of the solo strings.  It is very rich sounding especially when contrasted with the solo.  So maybe that would be a good addition.  Also what I didn't say exactly right before was that I didn't thnk you needed to worry about getting too much reverb, since more could add what Dietz put so well as another performer in the music - the reverb itself.  Which, when you think about it,  this piece should probably have something deep and dark and sorrowful.  Not small and clear. 

    Anyway, I am shocked that this composer died so young!  What would he have done if he had lived to be 80? 


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    Hi William,

    Update with a new version: lush verb (B).

    What would he have done if he had lived to be 80?
    I guess that Lekeu could have been one of the major composers from La Belle Epoque, also an important inspirator for other composers as well.


  • Hi Eric,

    thanks a lot for this information. Do you know of recordings of this or other pieces of his you could recommend?

    Best,

    Goran


  • Hi Goran,

    Search for recordings of Philippe Hirshhorn (Viiolin sonate), very beautiful.


  •  That is great and this thread is fantastic!  Thanks for posting this.  This composer is a tremendous talent - why did he die so young? 


  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on