Henk Badings Pointers

Started by John Copeland, March 20, 2010, 10:13:05 PM

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John Copeland

I have fell head over heels for the music of Henk Badings...but there's nothing much out there!  Can anyone point me to some Badings somewhere?
I have the 2,7,12 album, and his Cello Cencerto...and love it all.   :-*

Franco

Quote from: John on March 20, 2010, 10:13:05 PM
I have fell head over heels for the music of Henk Badings...but there's nothing much out there!  Can anyone point me to some Badings somewhere?
I have the 2,7,12 album, and his Cello Cencerto...and love it all.   :-*

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Henk+Badings

Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music: Volume 1 (1955-1966) can be found on many file sharing sites.

John Copeland

Thank you Franco.   :D

My main concern is he wrote 15 symphonies.  2,3,7,12 are available.  None of the rest are.   :'(

donaldopato

Albany Records released some wind music of Badings:

Flute Concerto # 2 Albany 435
Concerto for Bassoon, Contrabasson and Wind Orchestra Albany 628

Both recordings feature the De Paul University Wind Ensemble

I hope CPO will continue with the Symphonies and not stop at the wonderful recording of 2, 7 and 12
Until I get my coffee in the morning I'm a fit companion only for a sore-toothed tiger." ~Joan Crawford

Guido

Do you mean the second cello concerto?
Geologist.

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away

John Copeland

Oops.  Yes.  Cello Concerto II.   :-[

pjme



Coda Distribution Ltd Referentienummer:
6912532 


This interesting disc has Badings Harpconcerto. An older recording with Bading's sister Vera ( for many years soloharpist of the Concertgebouw) existed on Olympia but is OOP.

It is a lovely work. The second movement is scored for harp and percussion only.

There must be more inspired works inhis huge output....maybe CPO manages to record all the symphonies...?

His reputation is "tarnished" by his attitude during WW2 ( he continued working)

Even so, a composer with an often original & strong voice.

See the list of his works :
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henk_Badings
P.

UB

I have managed to acquire all the symphonies except 1, 4 and 14. Mainly they came from friends who recorded them off the radio or web. I just realized that since 4 is an unlucky number in Indonesia - there are no 4, 14, 24, etc. floors in their high-rises - where he was born I wonder if there he wrote a 4 and 14? Anyway the symphonies - especially the later ones - are all well worth having and getting to know.

Although I have a number of his electronic pieces, I have never been a real fan of them.

Thanks for starting a thread on this interesting Dutch composer...I had not listen to any of his music in quite some time.
I am not in the entertainment business. Harrison Birtwistle 2010

snyprrr

I have Bading's "flute+harp" and "flute+organ" pieces on two 'various' cds. Both pieces are highlights on their respective recitals, having the requisite amount of modernity to contrast with the more traditional pieces. Other highlights include Persichetti (fl+hrp) and Martin (fl+org).



I think it is Bading's SQ No.4 (1966) which I saw on some publisher's website (the microtonal one). Apparently, this is some kind of microtonal masterpiece. If I had the druthers, I would hire a group and an engineer and go for it. Why are there not more (rich) people around here with those kinds of ideas?

The new erato

This one is to be released late July:


just Jeff

Concerto for Piano and Electronic Sounds (1967)

I've not been able to find any info on this work, or any sign of a CD issue.

a rare one apparently


20th Century Music - Ecrater Storefront:
http://20thcenturymusic.ecrater.com/

Klaze

I quote this from the Rudolf Escher thread:

QuoteAnd, BTW, Badings isn't that well served by cpo. There were two discs of symphonies, and then the series stopped, last release were between 2 and 3 years ago if I'm to trust my impressions. What a crying shame.

Does anyone know what happened here, or perhaps there was never a plan to record more?

By the way, I didn't see it mentioned yet: there's also been a nice release on a label called Polymnie, already a few years ago also:

[asin]B00166QK6K[/asin]




Dundonnell

All the Badings symphonies can be downloaded from The Art-Music Forum :)

snyprrr

Quote from: Dundonnell on November 15, 2012, 05:07:58 PM
All the Badings symphonies can be downloaded from The Art-Music Forum :)

:o :o :o
:o :o :o
:o :o :o

:D :D :D
:D :D :D
:D :D :D

Klaze

Quote from: Dundonnell on November 15, 2012, 05:07:58 PM
All the Badings symphonies can be downloaded from The Art-Music Forum :)

Even though I don't like downloads, in this case my curiosity might win out :). Thanks!

Mirror Image

#15
Since there's no biographical information on this thread about Badings thought I would supply some:



Henk Badings was born in Java when it was still a Dutch colony; he later acknowledged the influence of Indonesian music heard in childhood as the source for his adult interest in microtonal scales. Both of Badings' parents died when he was young, and Badings' guardian activity discouraged his aspiration to become a composer. When Badings finally matriculated, it was to the Delft University of Technology to become a mining engineer. By the time Badings began to study privately with Willem Pijper, Pijper was astonished to discover that Badings already had learned the requisite tools for composing and merely needed instruction in orchestration; Badings' Symphony No. 1 (1930) was premiered while he was still a student and it would prove the first in a cycle of 11 symphonies.

When Badings graduated from Delft in 1931, he initially turned to geology and engineering, the trades for which he studied, but the desire to compose proved too strong. The 1930s and early 1940s were years in which Badings' commissions began to increase steadily, and from 1935, he began to teach as well. Badings accepted the position of head at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague from the Nazi-controlled Dutch government in 1942, replacing of the sitting director, who was Jewish; although this did not make Badings a "Nazi collaborator" in the conventional sense, this decision would have fatal ramifications concerning Badings' later career. At war's end, Badings' involvement with the Nazis was reviewed by a military tribunal and he was censured for two years, but in 1947, Badings was permitted to pursue his career as composer and teacher, much as before. Badings' Symphony No. 3 (1943) was one of the most popular European orchestral works in the postwar period and it opened many doors for him.

Always interested in the possibilities of electronic music, Badings established an electronic music studio in Eindhoven in cooperation with the Philips Corporation in 1956. He also took a strong interest in the form of radio opera, and between 1954 and 1960 produced six operas, three of them for radio, beginning with Oreste (1954); this work won the Prix d'Italia and was broadcast on the BBC. By 1960, Badings was essentially the best-known Dutch composer in the world, accepting and fulfilling commissions from the U.K. and in the United States, where he enjoyed a long relationship with the American Wind Orchestra led by Robert Boudreau. In the late '60s, however, renewed interest in Badings' ties to the Nazis surfaced, and new allegations suggested that Badings' complicity during the occupation was greater than he had acknowledged to the tribunal. It hardly affected Badings outside of Holland, where his music continued to be heard and where he held a teaching position at the Hochschüle für Musik in Stuttgart, not to mention honorary citizenship in the United States. However, the allegations permanently devastated his reputation in Holland: Badings' music was banned from Dutch radio and his music disappeared from the concert halls. Still permitted to teach, Badings' students highly valued his insights; among them was composer Ton de Leeuw. However, the longterm result of his eclipse is that Badings' name, even at the time of his centenary in 2007, remains practically unknown in Holland, even though it appears on practically all short lists of great Dutch composers.

Badings composed more than 1,000 works and wrote for practically every instrumental combination available to him. Among his electronic works, his Capriccio for solo violin and two soundtracks (1959) was a particularly significant milestone in electro-acoustic music. Badings also devised his own 31-note system of microtones based on experiences gathered from hearing music in Indonesia. Badings' music never shied away from advanced techniques, but he had an innate sense of formal development, a preference for luxuriant textures, and a taste for exoticism; his music is highly appealing, yet doesn't sound dated. Badings was an autodidact who was able to function at the highest levels of academic teaching, in itself a relatively rare situation.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

snyprrr

bump... Andriessen and Badings...

SymphonicAddict

Resurrecting old threads that only seem to matter to curious people (like me).  ;D

Lately I've been discovering this composer (who is new to me) through his symphonies, chiefly from the CPO releases. Moreover, I've been able to download nearly all the symphonies that are don't have any commercial recording from another classical music forum (except No. 6 whose sound quality is godawful). Hopefully CPO will continue this series because it really deserves it.




Anyone who enjoys Hindemith, Honegger or composers who managed strong accents or rhythms in their styles could like him. In spite of his style became very modernist as his works progressed, his idiom is pretty approachable overall, and these symphonies prove it. The orchestration is another remarkable feature in which Badings stands out. Even there are some cinematic passages in some of his first symphonies that draw the attention as well.

So far, the most fascinating symphony for me has been the No. 12 Symphonische Klangfiguren. A very singular work full of arresting ideas, mystery and coruscating orchestration, all in 18 minutes of stunning music.

Roy Bland

Symphonies 4-5 great work well played!

relm1

Hmm, interesting...will have to explore.  Love Hindemith and Honegger so if he's anything like that, will enjoy.