no return - Frederik Croene & Karl Van Welden

Frederik Croene (CCHA, 2017 & 2025) makes intense piano compositions in which sparkling virtuosity and melodious melancholy transition into despair and physical exhaustion. After cul de sac (2019) and solastalgia (2022), Croene now presents sans retour, the final piece of his piano solo triptych, a loving investigation into the futility of our reactions to climate change. The three albums give voice to three stages of psychological processing of the realization that we have ended up in a doomsday scenario. Wallowing in nostalgia, desperately holding on to objects and ways of life doomed to extinction (cul de sac), the longing for the landscapes that have been lost due to climate change and human mismanagement (solastalgia), and finally the futility of the escape fantasy doomed to failure (sans retour). Yukio Seki († 1944, 23 years old): the first kamikaze pilot Bessie Coleman († 1926, 34 years old): the first black and indigenous American stuntwoman with a pilot's license (obtained in France) Joeri Gagarin († 1968, 34 years old): the first human in space Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (†1944, 44 years old): writer (Night Flight) and airmail pilot Richard Russell († 2018, 28 years old): stole a passenger plane and was able to fly around with it for more than an hour without flying experience or a license, even succeeded in a ‘barrel roll’ Daniël Kinet († 1910, 26 years old): show pilot and first aviation victim on Belgian soil (a potato field, according to legend) Sans retour brings an ode in six piano pieces as an in memoriam to six fearless aviation pioneers who ultimately lost their lives in a plane crash, as a dystopian epic with images by artist Karl Van Welden. **** "Croene dives bomb-like into the post-classical pool and drags us into the limits of the genre. (...) Rarely has post-classical sounded more exciting." - Humo, Apr 30, 19 **** "Croene navigates from effervescent maximalism to earth-dark minimal and makes you gasp for air." - De Morgen, May 2, 19 piano & composition Frederik Croene / image Karl Van Welden / co-production STUK, Concertgebouw & Cortizona / © Reddit & Marleen Nelen frederikcroene.com & karlvanwelden.be