Jan van Gilse - Symphony No. 4; etc. (David Porcelijn)

Information

Composer: Jan van Gilse

1. Symphony No. 4 in A major: I. Mäßig bewegt, einfach, heiter
2. Symphony No. 4 in A major: II. Intermezzo. Ruhig fließend
3. Symphony No. 4 in A major: III. Langsam, sehr ruhig
4. Symphony No. 4 in A major: IV. Schnell und heftig
5. Treurmusiek bij den dood van Uilenspiegel
6. Concert Overture in C minor

Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
David Porcelijn, conductor

Date: 2012
Label: cpo

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

CPO here continues apace with its survey of Jan van Gilse’s symphonies. Details of the composer’s life and descriptions of his music can be found in reviews of his first three symphonies in 32:2 and 36:2. The Fourth Symphony in A Major occupied Gilse from 1910 to 1915, and appears to be his last fully completed symphony; only a fragment of a Fifth exists, dating from 1922, and since the composer lived for another 22 years after that, it has to be assumed that it wasn’t death that prevented him from completing it. The Concert Overture in C Minor has received a previous recording by Jac van Steen conducting the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra on an NM CD. It was reviewed in 31:5.

If you acquired one or both of David Porcelijn’s CPO recordings of Gilse’s first three symphonies, you’ll know what to expect of the Fourth, and there’s really not a lot to add. This is well-made music in high romantic style. Commenting on the First Symphony in 32:2, David H. North pegged it as Dvorák’s No. 4-1/3. Gilse has advanced considerably beyond Dvorák in his Fourth Symphony, but considering its date of composition, it’s still a decade or so behind its time. The most pervasive influence on the score, even more so than on Gilse’s Third Symphony, is Richard Strauss. The music is shot through with much of the same orchestral busyness—the flashes, splashes, and dashes of luminous colors—and the long-arching passages of melodic and harmonic nostalgia familiar from Strauss’s tone poems. If Gilse’s First Symphony was Dvorák’s No. 4-1/3, his Fourth Symphony is Strauss’s Don Juanenspiegel.

The Strauss connection is literary as well as musical. In 1941, during the German occupation of Holland, Gilse composed his Funeral Music on the Death of Uilenspiegel , the flip side, if you will, of Strauss’s Till . This, for Gilse, was how things ended for the legendary merry prankster. The music now anticipates the Strauss of Metamorphosen of four years later. If this and previous reviews have not taken Gilse very seriously, his Funeral Music is a score that commands serious attention and perhaps a re-evaluation of his work as a whole. The piece actually was extracted from a section of Gilse’s opera Thijl and then expanded to stand as an independent orchestral work. The Concert Overture of 1900 is Gilse’s first attempt at a piece for orchestra and it, like the First Symphony, contains echoes of Dvorák.

Of the three CPO discs released so far in this series, I find myself most impressed by this one. Performance and recording standards remain very high, and this is music anyone who enjoys beautifully crafted and magnificently scored orchestral music of the type and style described will derive much pleasure from. Strongly recommended.

-- Jerry Dubins, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Jan13/Gilse_sy34_7775182_7776892.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Feb13/Gilse_sy4_7776892.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gilse-Symphony-Netherlands-Orchestra-Porcelijn/dp/B008LBX8RC

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

***

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

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!