• Wanderer-Fantasie opus 91 voor blazersorkest

  [1 piccolo flute and flute 3, flute 1 and 2, 1 oboe, 1 piccolo clarinet, clarinets 1 and 2, 1 bass clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 soprano sax, 1 alto sax, 1 tenor sax and 1 bariton sax, 3 trumpets, 3 horns, 3 tenor trombones, 2 euphoniums, 1 tuba, 1 string bass and 3 percussionists]

• Duration: 7'
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2013
• Dedicated to Jan Van der Ecker
• First performance: 20.12.14 Koninklijke Harmonie Crescendo, Glabbeek (Belgium) conducted by Steven Jacques
• Parts: please e mail <rc@robertcasteels.com>

The title of this work Riddart, waarhenen gaat de tocht? means in Flemish: Riddart, where are you going?. Riddart is a name. The word tocht means course of events, life journey, passion. Robert Casteels’s first opera entitled De Kaartridder, meaning the Knight with the cards, tells a Faustian story of a knight, Riddart, who is addicted to gambling. After losing all his possessions to gambling, our hero strikes a deal with the devil so that he can further indulge in his passion. After losing everything again, at the very moment he is about to honour his debt to the devil, the knight is saved by a twist of fate. The premiere of the opera in Belgium in 2012 was a great success.
In this dense symphonic suite opus 91 Robert Casteels included all the themes of the opera, but in the following order that is different from the order in the opera: the rap theme, the gambling theme, the devil’s cavalcade, the theme of the castle, the theme of the knight’s wandering, the theme of the beloved, the theme of money, the musical interval referring to the devil, the chord of the Soul, the salvation theme and finally the beginning theme of the opera and the knight’s theme.