A much respected pedagogue
and music critic, Willem Pelemans was
– first and foremost – a most distinguished
composer with a huge and varied output
to his credit. This ranges from short
piano pieces such as Les rêves
de Tom (1929) to a large-scale
opera De mannen van Smeerop
(1952) and includes six symphonies,
six concertos for orchestra, a number
of concertos, 19 piano sonatas, numerous
songs and song cycles, eight string
quartets, choral songs and cycles, three
chamber operas and a large-scale Mass
(1944) that many regard as one of his
finest achievements. Needless to say,
little of this is heard nowadays, let
alone recorded, which makes the present
release the more welcome.
The works recorded
here span some twenty years of his long
composing life. Banaliteiten
("banalities"), a suite of
nine character pieces for piano, was
completed in 1944 and is the earliest
work here. It is a delightful set of
nine contrasted sketches, all fairly
straightforward, but in no way as ‘banal’
as its title might suggest. Unfortunately,
the whole set has not been recorded,
which is a pity and incomprehensible
since the total playing time would have
allowed for the inclusion of the complete
set. This and the other pieces do not
differ much from each other, i.e. stylistically
speaking, for each one has its own character,
so that this selection is happily free
from monotony. Moreover each piece is
superbly written for the instrument
bringing out the best. This is particularly
evident in the attractive Preludium,
Aria en Wals for harp and the
delightful Harp Quintet
(1962 – harp, flute and string trio)
that may bring Ravel to mind. Pelemans’
music is very Gallic in tone, although
it is always personal, without being
innovative. Pelemans found his musical
voice quite early in his career and
stuck to it throughout his entire composing
life, although he always managed to
bring in as much variety and invention
as possible, so as not to repeat himself.
His music is characterised by formal
clarity, economy of means and imbued
with an almost endless melodic fund
and unstoppable energy. His pieces are
concise, perfectly balanced, never over-exploit
their basic material and thus never
outstay their welcome. No towering masterpieces
here, but several attractive, superbly
crafted works as rewarding to play as
they are to listen to.
This attractive cross-section
of Pelemans’ large and varied chamber
music only represents the tip of the
tip of the iceberg. Nevertheless it
provides an excellent introduction to
his music. It is a most welcome release,
the more so that all these works are
performed by musicians who obviously
relish every minute of it. I wish that
this would re-kindle interest in Pelemans’
endearing music. Well worth investigating,
if you like, say, the music of Debussy,
Ravel, Moeran or French music from the
inter-war years. There is much to enjoy
here.
Hubert Culot
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Arpae Ensemble (Aldo Baerten, flute; Gudrun
Vercampt, violin; Diederik Suys, viola; Marie
Hallynck, cello; Sophie Hallynck, harp)