I have to admit that up to the moment that I first played this
CD I had not heard any music by Jan van Gilse. I was surprised
and indeed pleased to learn that these same forces have recorded
his previous three symphonies; the Third is on CPO 7775182 (see
review
of Symphonies 1 and 2). I don’t feel too bad about it
as, to quote the fascinating and lengthy booklet essay by John
Smit (up to CPO usual standards of scholarship) Gilse’s
music “was entirely forgotten subsequent to his death”
and “European publishing houses were not interested in
it”. These notes are brilliant at telling the complex
and ultimately tragic story of the life and career of van Gilse.
He was even buried under a different name and his two sons fell
victim to the Nazis. That said we are given little, if any,
analytical background to tell whether, how and these scores
were published.
The Dutch, rather like the British are very bad at promoting
their own culture. Anyway if this disc is representative then
van Gilse is an important figure in 20th century
Dutch music. He is also an imposing and somewhat severe one
if the photo in the booklet is anything to go by.
To start, oddly enough at the end, the disc concludes with the
Overture in C minor, a student work dating back to his
time at Cologne University. The orchestration is I suspect rather
functional but this is a significant piece for a young man.
Van Gilse revised it after its first performance at an “Examinations
Concert’ and then lost interest after a series of airings.
If only he could have heard this performance. The serious opening
grows into an strong Allegro and then ends positively. It’s
well structured and its material is memorable.
The Treurmuziek written on the death of Uilenspiegel
was extracted from his opera Thijl which was not produced
until over twenty years after his death. Its subject matter
was not suitable for an occupied country but at least the composer
was able to hear this orchestral extract in 1941. With its ponderous
and tragic gait it makes suitable and moving wartime fare. It
was also performed in a memorial concert to the composer just
after the war by the Concertgebouw, an orchestra van Gilse decided
not to conduct at this time as all of its Jewish members had
been removed. Van Gilse himself was also practically removed,
and wiped from musical history as a result.
The Symphony No. 4, if I may use that vacuous and overtaxed
word, is ‘charming’ in many ways. It also has a
great many hidden and powerful depths, which like most music
only gradually reveal themselves. I was struck by the colour
and delicacy of the orchestration, for instance some attractive
pitched percussion and, I think, two harps. I was intrigued
by what was at times a Richard Straussian influence -not surprising
as the two composers knew each other. Due to politics and van
Gilse’s anti-Nazi and pro-Jewish principles they never
quite ‘hit it off’. At times in the first and fourth
movements (the longest) there’s a feel of early Mahler.
Yet it’s the third movement with its loving and lingering
first subject and its magical middle section and woodwind solos
over rippling and trilling strings, which I have returned to.
Also attractive is the extravert and joyous opening of the fourth
movement with its terrific brass writing. This movement, weighing
in at over thirteen minutes, for my taste goes on a little too
long especially in its rather repetitive march-like middle section.
Also the material of the Intermezzo second movement is not contrasted
enough with much of the first movement. Even with these criticisms
registered the overall pleasure and general feeling of up-lift
tells convincingly in favour of this work.
Ultimately this music is well served by these highly polished
and committed performances and by the wonderfully rich and clear
recording.
Rare repertoire certainly and some of it has not been heard
since the composer himself directed it almost one hundred years
ago. This is a composer well worth discovering.
Gary Higginson
see also review by Rob
Barnett
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Netherlands Symphony Orchestra/David Porcelijn 