Frederik Croene — Sans Retour (with Karl Van Welden)

Following Cul de Sac (2019) and Solastalgia (2022), virtuoso pianist-composer Frederik Croene now presents Sans Retour (2024), the final installment of his piano solo triptych. The overarching theme of the triptych is a loving exploration of the futility of our responses to climate change. The three records, released on the Cortizona label, reflect three stages of psychological processing of the realization that we have ended up in a doomsday scenario.

Six piano pieces in memory of six aviation pioneers who ultimately lost their lives in a plane crash.

• Yukio Seki (†1944, aged 23): the first kamikaze pilot

• Bessie Coleman (†1926, aged 34): the first black and Native American stuntwoman with a pilot's license (obtained in France)

• Yuri Gagarin (†1968, aged 34): the first man in space

• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (†1944, aged 44): writer (Night Flight) and airmail pilot

• Richard Russell (†2018, aged 28): stole a passenger plane and flew it for over an hour without any flying experience or license, even managing a barrel roll

• Daniël Kinet (†1910, aged 26): aerobatic pilot and first aviation casualty on Belgian soil (a potato field, according to tradition)

In August, Croene flew to Tokyo to send the empty album covers back to Belgium from different post offices. Any damage, specific stamps, and postmarks determine the design of each cover individually. No return address was deliberately provided. In addition to developing this cover concept, artist Karl Van Welden also created the images that accompany the recital.

Credits

Piano & composition: Frederik Croene | Visuals: Karl Van Welden | Co-production: STUK Leuven, Concertgebouw Brugge, Flemish Community & Cortizona