Astronauts who gazed upon the Earth from space say they have been overcome by a profound sens of connection and love for our planet and for the humanity that inhabits it. The moment, when the fragility of the Earth floating in the vastness of the cosmos becomes strikingly apparent, is known as the “overview effect”. In a composition that takes its title from this phenomenon, the pianist Brecht Valckenaers seeks to enable the listener to experience this almost transcendent sensation. This desire to make perceptible – or even ot evoke – experiences that transcend the boundaries of the ordinary runs through the works brought together in this programme.

Far from seeking to preserve a fragile Earth, Alexander Scriabine aspired to ecstatic experiences capable of transporting performers and listeners beyond our world. His Mystery, a total art projet set in the Himalayas, was intended to transcend the planet and humanity in an act of creative destruction, but it never came to fruition. Vers la flamme achieves this destruction in miniature, through the evocation of an unceasing fire, a symbol that is both creative and destructive. The same drive towards ecstasy runs through his Piano Sonata n^o 5. A devout Catholic, Messiaen drew on the rites of other cultures to explore spiritual concepts of almost universal scope. In his virtuosic île de feu, he was thus inspired by the magical fire rituals of Papua New Guinea. Influenced himself by astrology and mysticism, the American composer George Crumb explored the links between sounds and mataphorical meanings. His piano fantasies drawn from Makrokosmos I et II refer in particular to the symbolism of the constellations, whilst amplification and experimental playing techniques reveal entirely new harmonic colours.

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