Benoit / Royal Flemish Philharmonic / Brabbins De Schelde CD

A Dutch-language oratorio from one of the pioneers of the Flemish music scene! Peter Benoit was a rarity in the predominantly French-speaking cultural landscape of Belgium, and a Dutch-language oratorio about the Scheldt River was of huge symbolic value. Depicting the river as a lifeline reflected the radical optimism of Benoit's cultural policy. He had chosen the subject well: few other European rivers had so often been the subject of cross-border conflicts, treaties, lawsuits, sieges, blockades, and battles as the Scheldt. For the libretto, Benoit collaborated with writer Emanuel Hiel, who had previously provided the libretto for Lucifer. Together they created a complex scenario, moving away from the narrative oratorio tradition, in which the river is used to depict a journey through national consciousness.

1. Benoit: de Schelde