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Monday, February 18, 2019

Jan van Gilse - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (David Porcelijn)


Information

Composer: Jan van Gilse
  1. Symphony No. 1 in F major: I. Allegro moderato
  2. Symphony No. 1 in F major: II. Adagio non troppo
  3. Symphony No. 1 in F major: III. Scherzo: Molto allegro con fuoco
  4. Symphony No. 1 in F major: IV. Finale: Allegro con spirito
  5. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: I. Andante energico
  6. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: II. Intermezzo: Allegretto grazioso
  7. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major: III. Finale: Andante molto

Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
David Porcelijn, conductor

Date: 2008
Label: cpo


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Review

A welcome issue for a brave composer who has never received his due

The life and music of Jan van Gilse (1881-1944) are almost completely unknown outside his native Netherlands and largely forgotten inside it. A capable composer, numbering Humperdinck among his teachers, his first two symphonies (of four) confirm his technical ability and show a stylistic development from High to Late Romanticism. Although both works were well received at their initial performances, Gilse remained a marginal figure despite being closely involved in Dutch musical life and artists’ rights. Half-German on his mother’s side and having pursued his early career in Bremen and Munich, he was branded a Germanophile after the Great War and hounded from his conductorship in Utrecht (not least by the young Willem Pijper, to his shame). Back in Germany in the 1930s, he bitterly opposed Hitler’s regime and returned to the Netherlands, banned his works in Nazi-held territories (as the Bavarian Hartmann did) and joined the artistic resistance during the Occupation. He died before the liberation, a broken man following the execution of his two sons.

Tragic as were the closing years of his life, his music is full of life and drama. The personal voice is not especially distinctive but the symphonies here – student works both – are well made, attractive to the ear and substantial concert items. Where the First (1901) is a pleasant, stylistically conservative setting-out of his stall as a creative artist, the Second (1902-03, rev 1928; in three movements, fast, not-quite-so-fast, slower) is a more profound utterance, influenced by Bruckner, Mahler and Wagner without being radical. David Porcelijn directs fine accounts and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra respond warmly to the music. Splendidly recorded, too, this disc – one assumes Nos 3 and 4 will follow soon – is a long overdue act of restitution.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/June09/Gilse_7773492.htm
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/c/cpo77349a.php
https://www.allmusic.com/album/jan-van-gilse-symphonies-1-2-mw0001563283
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Symphonies-1-2-Porcelijn/dp/B0018BF16S

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Jan van Gilse (Rotterdam, 11 May 1881 – Oegstgeest, 8 September 1944) was a Dutch composer and conductor. He studied with Franz Wüllner in Cologne, with Engelbert Humperdinck in Berlin and also studied in Italy. Among Gilse's compositions are five symphonies and the Dutch-language opera Thijl. His early style is indebted to German late romanticism, but becomes more modernist after about 1920. In addition to composing, Gilse also served as conductor of the Utrecht Municipal Orchestra (1917-1921), as director of the Utrecht conservatory (1933-1937), and actively involved in the Dutch resistance during World War II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Gilse

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David Porcelijn (born 7 January 1947 in Achtkarspelen) is a Dutch composer and conductor. Porcelijn studied flute, composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in The Hague. He has held positions as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the RTB Symphony Orchestra in Belgrade, the Nederlands Dans Theater, and the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra in Denmark. Porcelijn's recordings include ones for ABC Classics, EMERGO, cpo, Future Classics and Cybelle Records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Porcelijn

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