The Music of Dirk Brossé

The best way to understand his music is to read one of the poems he has written about it:

I live in a world of sound
in which old notes meet new
at the junction of different styles and genres
some new arrivals, others centuries old
weary of convention and timeworn custom
I’ll take you to a musical world
where boundaries are but lines scratched vainly in the sand
to be washed away by the coming wave
all for the Love of Music
with a capital L and a capital M

© Dirk Brossé

CD-release ‘The Pulse of Joy' with Brussels Philharmonic

Dirk Brossé has composed more than 400 works. When he released his last album ‘A Symphonic Journey from Philly to Utopia’ – also recorded with the Brussels Philharmonic – his next CD was already in the starting blocks. Although the inspirations for its works are very diverse, it is once again a captivating whole that immerses. The title ‘UGent? Me2!’ is a reference to the happening Iedereen UGent (Everyone UGent). To the tones Do (C) and Sol (G) an imaginary procession of professors and dignitaries went their way from the town hall to the university. If you count carefully, you will hear the head of the theme (which is based on the letters U and G from UGent) 200 times. The U stands for UT (aka Do) and the G stands for Sol. The inspiration for ‘DNA in Music’, for flute, string orchestra and harp was born out of a conversation with cell biologist and Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse. If DNA is the backbone of every living organism, what then is the DNA of music? ‘In Memoriam Shostakovich’, for string orchestra and percussion is dedicated post mortem to Dimitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest and most important composers of his generation. 1 ’The Secret of the Mystic Lamb’, for Clarinet and Orchestra was inspired by the Ghent Altarpiece (aka the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb) by early Flemish painters and brothers Hubert and Jan Van Eyck. In this painting nothing is what it seems to be. The Ghent Altarpiece is brimming with symbolism and behind every detail there is a fascinating story. ‘Keep Moving’ was composed for the short film of the same name, directed by Hanne Schillemans and Ralph Timmermans (Spin Echo) and commissioned by BABC, the Beautiful After Breast Cancer Foundation. Keep Moving gives hope, courage, and strength to all women who have developed and survived breast cancer. ‘In Motu’ – Latin for ’in motion’ – is about movement and being in motion. Everything around us is vibrating. Everything is constantly moving, each thing at its own pace: from the slow grind of tectonic plates to the ultrafast speed of light. To me, the waves of the sea are the most fascinating of all movements. They are the never-ending heartbeat of the ocean, the breath of life and an inexhaustible fount of strength and energy. Their movement is essentially always the same and yet it is also always unique.