Pick a Peck of Pijper

[snyprrr]

Just hastily put up for the Andriessen and Badings discussion. Pijper's disc of String Quartets (Olympia) reveals a Composer, like many of his generation, that started out in the post-Wagnerian era and ended up Neo-Classical. In Pijper's case, he seems to be the father of a very grey, rainy type of 12-tone-ish-ness that I find quite appealing on foggy mornings.

Sorry I'm not giving Pijper a proper OP, but times here are tough, and it's all about getting the Thread before someone else does!

[pjme]

he seems to be the father of a very grey, rainy type of 12-tone-ish-ness

Pijper was quite a figure. He wanted above everything to be"modern": he mixed polytonality à la Milhaud, thundering rythms à la Sacre-Stravinsky, compactness, French clarity, southern exotica ( tango, rumba, habanera, flirtations with jazz).
Still, Mahler looms large over his orchestral works ( especialy the 3 symphonies) and purists do not like this unusual and heady mix.

I love symphonies 2 & 3, with their enormous orchestras and crazy style combinations.
The 6 symphonic epigrams ,however, are just that...  short flashes of orchestral invention..but they seem too brief to really capture one's attention.
The 6 adagio's on the contrary are wonderfully mild and solemn - with a strange Ivesian echo.
The late concerto's for violin and cello and the flute sonata are definitely worth discovering.

His vocal works I don't know well.
Recently two short works (on French texts /  Deux ballades de Paul Fort) for female chorus and small orchestra were sung (Dutch radio 4) -
See You Tube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6nWOxb8Axs#t=11

"Halewijn" is propably his most ambitious creation .
He wasn't able to finish "Merlin" - but it has been recorded.

[Mirror Image]

There's some Pijper in one of my RCO Live Anthology sets, I'll have to dig it out and see what's being performed. In other news, I did listen to his Symphony No. 1 via YouTube and it sounded nice. I'd like to own a recording of it, but this is wishful thinking.

[lescamil]

There is no commercial recording of the first symphony yet. We'll see if one appears. The third symphony also needs a new recording.

The Piano Concerto is a piece that should be talked about more. I uploaded this to YouTube a while back for those who'd like to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o7TwyQTSuU