Forgotten Master-craftsmen
Kris De Ruysscher | Brussels, Belgium | 08/25/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"$8.25, that's all... A bargain, considering the fact the music is worth at least 10 grand! I'll be brief: take Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Jan Sibelius and the 'Five', mix them together, add all the Flemish mysticism you can find through it, orchestrate brilliantly and let the orchestra shower you with light!
Gems, people, hidden, well-kept secrets, waiting to be discovered! You will never be sorry having bought this.
"
Pleasant music, but inspiration runs for the most part rathe
G.D. | Norway | 04/08/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This is in many ways a fine collection of some less famous Flemish romantic composers, but I am less sure that it showcases Flemish romanticism at its most attractive. I knew the music of Jef van Hoof (1886-1959) from a disc of his fifth and (unfinished) sixth symphony on Phaedra, and his second is cut from the same cloth; conservative, lyrical romanticism, well-crafted but not very melodically inspired. It is, in fact, a little forbidding; brooding and introvert and mystical (I was sometimes reminded of Miaskovsky, of all composers). It is not a great work, but worth hearing, I guess, and it receives a stronger performance here than the fifth and sixth did on the Phaedra disc.
Mortelmans's Myth of Spring is well represented on disc. I haven't heard the Brabbins recording on Hyperion, but this Marco Polo performance is warmer and lusher than the Phaedra one (although the latter disc was devoted to that composer). It is not a masterpiece by any standards but chinwags along pleasantly and unmemorably. The very short In the Fields by Benoit is a little gem, however (it lasts less than two minutes; blink and you'll miss it), but my impression might be colored by the fact that Benoit, as opposed to Mortelmans, knew how far he could take the modest musical material.
The most interesting work here is Meulemans's seventh symphony; a dark and impressionistic work that turns out to be surprisingly elusive (you need to listen to it several times before it begins to make sense). The atmosphere is bleak and romantic, but the musical language is rather impressionistic (strong touches of Ravel), and there are even hints of more modern influences, especially in the finale. I have to admit, however, that I was more taken overall with the Meulemans works on the Marco Polo disc devoted to the composer's second and third symphonies. But the performances are pretty good, as they are of all the works on the disc, and it is all vividly recorded. To sum up, this is a worthwhile disc but don't expect any masterpieces (although evidence suggests that a comprehensive investigation of Meulemans's symphonies might be a very worthwhile project)."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1