MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
AmazonUK AmazonUS

 

Joseph RYELANDT (1870–1965)
Piano Quintet in A minor Op.32 (1901)a [22:16]
Adagio in F sharp minor Op.13 (1895) [7:23]
String Quartet No.2 in F minor Op.36 (1903) [22:00]
Andante “Ach Tjanne” and Variations (1933)b [6:16]
Jozef de Beenhouwer (piano)ab; Joost Magerman (double bass)b; Spiegel String Quartet
rec. Academiezaal, Sint-Truiden, Belgium, 17-19 December 2007
PHAEDRA PH92055 [57:59]

 

Experience Classicsonline


Baron Joseph Ryelandt was born into a wealthy French-speaking family from Bruges in which music making was a tradition. His father died when he was seven and he complied with his mother’s wish that he should study law at the University of Leuven. Music, however, was his main concern and he was able to discontinue his studies at the University to study with Edgar Tinel. Ryelandt was Tinel’s only private composition pupil. From 1895 up to 1945, he was one of the most respected post-romantic composers in Belgium with a hugely varied output to his credit. This ranged from short piano pieces to large-scale choral-orchestral works as well as a one-act mystery La parabole des Vierges Op.10 and a three-act music-drama Cecilia Op.35. Ryelandt held strong religious beliefs so that his vast output is signposted by a great number of religious works such as his oratorios, one of which, the magnificent Agnus Dei Op.56 (1913/4), was once available on Marco Polo 8.223785-6. His Symphony No.4 in B flat minor Op.55 (1912-3) for chorus and orchestra is based on the Credo from the ordinary mass. There are several masses and many shorter choral works on sacred texts. Ryelandt also composed five symphonies and some orchestral music as well as a profusion of chamber works amongst which number piano pieces, songs and four string quartets.

The earliest work here, Adagio in F sharp minor Op.13 is the only surviving movement from one of the several string quartets that he composed in the early stages of his career. In this early work Ryelandt already displays a considerable contrapuntal mastery. That aspect will remain a hallmark of his entire output, not least so in the later large-scale choral-orchestral works.

The Piano Quintet in A minor Op.32 completed in 1901 is a much more assured and personal work although Franck’s influence may certainly be spotted throughout this accessible and often attractive score. It has remained one of Ryelandt’s most popular works. The work is in three movements. The stirring Allegro moderato is followed by a deeply-felt Andante religioso which is actually a set of variations on a chorale-like theme. It contains some of his most endearing music. The finale is rather weightier and in it themes from both preceding movements are briefly restated. The coda of the third movement clearly harks back to the music from the Andante religioso before speeding up to its emphatic conclusion.

The somewhat later String Quartet No.2 in F minor Op.36 is another substantial work completed in 1903. The opening Allegro moderato is followed by a longer, warmly lyrical Andante, the real emotional core of the entire work. The nervous Scherzo and the somewhat lighter Finale are played without a break. The composer revised the work, later making several cuts and this revised version is generally considered definitive. However, the earlier, uncut version was preferred for this recording.

The Andante and Variations “Ach Tjanne” for piano sextet was completed in 1933. It is much more of an occasional piece written as part of a collective work to be composed with Meulemans, Van Hoof and Roels, each composer sharing a movement. In his Notices sur mes oeuvres, Ryelandt stated that he thought that the other composers did not do their part of the job. He was wrong because Meulemans composed a Scherzo for piano sextet based on an old Flemish folk song whereas Van Hoof composed a first movement Moderato based on a medieval ballad Het daghet in den Oosten. It seems, however, that no trace was found of Oscar Roels’ contribution. The lack of any performance at that time might be the reason for Ryelandt’s erroneous statement. In fact the three existing movements were only performed in 1988! As may be expected, this is a somewhat simpler work consisting of a short set of variations on an old Flemish ballad. This tells how three little children go to their mother’s grave, where her spirit appears to them without being able to comfort them (I owe this piece of information to Jozef de Beenhouwer’s concise but informative insert notes). This short piece is nevertheless quite well-made and well worth more than the occasional hearing.

Ryelandt’s often heartfelt and beautiful music is deeply rooted in tradition, most notably that of Franck. The composer nevertheless eschews any pathos or all-too-obvious ponderousness. His music thus retains a most welcome lightness of touch. All the works here are played with obvious affection and conviction, so that this well-produced release should appeal to anyone with a liking for warmly lyrical, melodic and deeply sincere music. My only grumble about this otherwise most desirable release is its comparatively short playing time. Another string quartet or the Second Piano Quintet might have filled the bill.

Hubert Culot





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.