Late Romantic music from Belgium

[André]

Thanks a lot. Very informative site! Also I like the disc you suggested, including the work of Strauss.
I am enjoying the colorful music of August de Boeck today. Wonderful disc.

A nice disc. Love the symphony.

Frederic Devreese, the conductor on this disc, is also a talented composer. I have a couple of discs of his music.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

A nice disc. Love the symphony.

Frederic Devreese, the conductor on this disc, is also a talented composer. I have a couple of discs of his music.

I will look for his discs! Thank you.

[pjme]

A nice disc. Love the symphony.

Frederic Devreese, the conductor on this disc, is also a talented composer. I have a couple of discs of his music.

If interested, I can send both you and Dry Brett a recording of '"Evocations' a quite early symphonic suite that Frederic Devreese distilled from a radio play 'Willem van Saeftinghe'". But not before early april.....I'll give more details later.
Peter

[André]

Thanks, Peter. I would very much appreciate. I have long had a special interest in belgian composers  0:).

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

If interested, I can send both you and Dry Brett a recording of '"Evocations' a quite early symphonic suite that Frederic Devreese distilled from a radio play 'Willem van Saeftinghe'". But not before early april.....I'll give more details later.
Peter

Wonderful! Thank you very much, Peter.
Thanks to Stürmisch Bewegt's recommendation, now listening to the disc of Alpaerts / Meulemans / D'hoedt. All the works sound great. It seems to me that D'hoedt is under-recorded. His work in the disc is brilliant.

[Florestan]

Some fine music in these two discs:



although whoever came up with the idea of orienting the covers the way they did should be hanged upside down. 

The back covers at least are properly oriented.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Flemish Horn Concerti.
Just accidentally found the disc on Amazon and ordered it. While I don't know anything about the composers and performer, the music is vivid, picturesque and diverse. Wonderful surprise.

[André]

Thanks for bringing this out. I have some Meulemans and De Jong, but the other names are totally unknown to me. I'll explore further.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thanks for bringing this out. I have some Meulemans and De Jong, but the other names are totally unknown to me. I'll explore further.

Great! Please let me know what you think and what is going on in the recording.

[pjme]

Robert Herberigs concerto/symphonic poem with horn solo was played and recorded by its dedicatee.

https://www.youtube.com/v/jaNzoida8iI

Herberigs writes very colorfull, brillantly/heavily orchestrated music, using Strauss, Ravel and Debussy et.al.as masters.

The same applies for the other composrers, I'd say, but as their music is hardly ever edited or played and or recorded it is difficult to judge from a few works.

[André]

Great! Please let me know what you think and what is going on in the recording.

My exploration led me to find that it is rare and overpriced  .

This label often gets heavily discounted on the market place, so I'll keep an eye on it. 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I have been listening to these nice discs this week. Colorful music.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

If interested, I can send both you and Dry Brett a recording of '"Evocations' a quite early symphonic suite that Frederic Devreese distilled from a radio play 'Willem van Saeftinghe'". But not before early april.....I'll give more details later.
Peter

Peter,
I am glad you sent me the recording. I enjoyed the wonderful, artistic music. While his music is significantly different from that of his father's generation, the composition is refined and innovative with less folk elements.  The music is energetic and atmospheric. The movements and orchestration are well-structured and highly sophisticated as well. Thanks a lot for sending the music to me. I will routinely listen to this recording.

[Roy Bland]

Mr.Van Rijen told me that there was cd recorded with his music.I found never.
https://musicalics.com/it/node/485628

[pjme]

Hello Roy,

I found this Flemish pdf document :
https://www.arhus.be/uploads/media/16_Ostijn__Willy__folder__2005_01.pdf

It mentions only two cds that were commercially available:

Toccata voor orgel  / orgel Eric Hallein // In : Eric Hallein speelt
symfonische orgelmuziek uit Vlaanderen [ cd ]. – [S.l.] : [s.n.], 1992. – 1 cd. –
CDSE 92124
And, as part of a book, I think:


Drie Vlaamse dansen voor orkest, 1942 [ track ] / Filharmonisch Orkest van de BRT ; dirigent Erik Baeck // In : Lexicon van de muziek in West-Vlaanderen, vol.01 [ cd ] /
Herman Roelstraete, Jules Bouquet, Vic Legley, Elias Gistelinck, Louis De Meester, Willy Ostijn en Jan Decadt. – Kortrijk : Radio 2, [2003?]. – 1 cd. –
LMO1
It will be difficult to track these older issues down.....
Only second hand:
https://untje.com/nl/lexicon-van-de-muziek-in-west-vlaanderen-24319.html

All the other recordings mentioned,  stem from the historical BRT/VRT archives and are not readily available. Some of these are on YT however.
https://youtu.be/14nKl11f0gM
Personally I have nothing by Ostyn. Sometimes his name is written as Ostijn.

Peter

[Roy Bland]

Hello Roy,

I found this Flemish pdf document :
https://www.arhus.be/uploads/media/16_Ostijn__Willy__folder__2005_01.pdf

It mentions only two cds that were commercially available:

Toccata voor orgel  / orgel Eric Hallein // In : Eric Hallein speelt
symfonische orgelmuziek uit Vlaanderen [ cd ]. – [S.l.] : [s.n.], 1992. – 1 cd. –
CDSE 92124
And, as part of a book, I think:


Drie Vlaamse dansen voor orkest, 1942 [ track ] / Filharmonisch Orkest van de BRT ; dirigent Erik Baeck // In : Lexicon van de muziek in West-Vlaanderen, vol.01 [ cd ] /
Herman Roelstraete, Jules Bouquet, Vic Legley, Elias Gistelinck, Louis De Meester, Willy Ostijn en Jan Decadt. – Kortrijk : Radio 2, [2003?]. – 1 cd. –
LMO1
It will be difficult to track these older issues down.....
Only second hand:
https://untje.com/nl/lexicon-van-de-muziek-in-west-vlaanderen-24319.html

All the other recordings mentioned,  stem from the historical BRT/VRT archives and are not readily available. Some of these are on YT however.
https://youtu.be/14nKl11f0gM
Personally I have nothing by Ostyn. Sometimes his name is written as Ostijn.

Peter

Thanks! Another belgian composer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhIGHrZrtzI
https://musicalics.com/nl/node/80608

[pjme]

Roelstraete is yet another forgotten artist. During his lifetime he had certainly some notoriety in Flanders.
As so many composers of his generation he was too modern for an older generation of listeners and definitely too old fashioned/romantic/tonal for the Pousseur, Goeyvaerts, Boesmans...school.

https://www.svm.be/content/roelstraete-herman?display=biography&language=en
https://matrix-new-music.be/en/publications/flemish-composers-database/roelstraete-herman/
https://ctb.kantl.be/publicaties/herman-roelstraete-thematische-catalogus-van-het-werk (flemish only)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Solid performance of August De Boeck and Paul Gilson. Nice coupling and lovely disc.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Thank you for the insightful review on the Horn Concerti, Andre.

Rather specialized repertoire to be sure but since it exists, why not record it ?  . Horn player André van Driessche was principal in the Belgian Radio Philharmonic, then the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic. Taught horn playing at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. He displays a superb technique, producing golden liquid tones or rustic ones at will. Furthermore I think it's safe to say he knows the works like the back of his hand. All of the composers were fellow Conservatory teachers or conductors in one of the orchestras he played in.

The composers are Robert Herberigs, Prosper van Eechaute, Arthur Meulemans and Marinus de Jong. I only know and have music of, the last two named. Never heard of Herberigs (1886-1974) or van Eechaute (1904-1964) before. Be that as it may, all the music here is really worth listening to. There's plenty to please and a few surprises. How about an english horn solo to introduce the french horn in the slow movement of the Meulemans concerto? The effect is like watching water mixing with oil. A rather daring coloristic effect. Herberig's Cyrano de Bergerac is a suite for horn and orchestra, and very entertaining it is !

A fine disc I'm discovering through the good offices of Dry Brett Kavanaugh. Thank you, kind sir !

[pjme]

Cross posted from "what are you listening to":
Rather specialized repertoire to be sure but since it exists, why not record it ?"
Over several decades, the Belgian Ministries of Culture tried to promote some (19th -20th century) composers: LPs (Decca, Cultura) and Cds (BRT/VRT / VAR...) were made, were sent to embassies, were occasionally broadcast and then largely forgotten. Furthermore Belgium is squeezed between two giants, Germany and France, it is divided by a lingual barrier (lots of politico/financial/cultural incidents & struggles) and, over the last decades, the general interest has shifted from (late)romantic music to early / baroque music and all kinds of more contemporary expressions.  Paul Van Nevel, la petite Bande, Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe, Graindelavoix, Zefiro Torna....Ictus Ensemble, Eric Schleichim,....Etc.

https://classics.flandersartsinstitute.be/who%E2%80%99s-who-classical-music-flanders

The Belgian Radio Philharmonic, then the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic.
"The Brussels Philharmonic was founded in 1935 by the Belgian public broadcaster (National Broadcasting Institute (NIR/INR - later BRT/BRTN/VRT).
In 1991 the Orchestre Symphonique de la RTBF (the French sister ensemble) was definitively dismantled.
In 1998 the VRT orchestra is detached from the broadcasting organisation and restarts –in 2008 - as Brussels Philharmonic. Michel Tabachnik is followed by Stéphane Denève.
https://www.brusselsphilharmonic.be/en/orchestra

Robert Herberigs, Prosper van Eechaute, Arthur Meulemans and Marinus de Jong.

Of these 4, van Eechaute is the least well known (imho). And forgotten...
https://www.svm.be/content/van-eechaute-prosper?display=biography&language=en
https://youtu.be/MOwRzXiJlsA

Meulemans isn't totally unknown on GMG. Huge oeuvre (cfr Milhaud and Martinu), he wrote in almost every genre, from simple folksy/nationalistic/religious songs, to huge symphonies (15!) operas, oratoria, chamber music, concerti.... As with most his direct contemporaries: too "modern" for his late Romantic teachers, far too romantic & tonal for the 1950-1960 generation. The fact that he kept on working during WWII (out of need to feed his family...), tainted his reputation.
https://www.svm.be/content/meulemans-arthur?display=biography&language=en
https://youtu.be/xPyvE7-qh1c

I rather like Robert Herberigs. A "burgundian, Brueghelian" type, also a writer and a painter... with an apricot plantation in the south of France. What I know of him is big, bold, often very dramatic, very colorfull. The late symphonic poems are all "heavily" orchestrated. He loved Ravel and Richard Strauss. In 1948-1949 he wrote a very monumental score for Het Lam Gods spel - an open air evocation of Van Eyck's Ghent altar piece.
https://www.svm.be/content/herberigs-robert?display=biography&language=en
https://youtu.be/ymkTef8z6BY
Marinus de Jong is my least favorite composer of these 4. He had a profound knowledge of all the technical wizardries of composing... remains quite dull to my ears.
https://www.svm.be/content/de-jong-marinus?display=biography&language=en

https://youtu.be/NqynrD9yMUE
https://youtu.be/32fl7uEl06w