Pick a Peck of Pijper

Started by snyprrr, February 24, 2014, 06:16:50 AM

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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

#1
Quote from: snyprrr on February 24, 2014, 06:16:50 AM
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
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irc.psigenix.net
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