To be honest, if I had read about this disk
I might think it to be some kind of April fool. After all,
a disk called Flemish Rhapsody containing five works
with the same title might seem to be rather over–egging the
pudding. But this is no jest, for here are six very enjoyable,
and colourful, works from composers whose names, with, possibly,
two exceptions, will be new to you.
Brusselmanns was born in Paris, but studied
with Paul Gilson - probably the first Flemish composer to
compose a rhapsody for orchestra – Scottish Rhapsody
(1886) - at the Brussels Conservatoire. He remained an isolated
figure all his life. This Flemish Rhapsody is not based
on any folk material, but that hardly matters for it’s a cogently
conceived work, full of brilliant orchestration. There’s a
particularly melting section for cor anglais about half–way
through – and good (original) tunes. Why have we never heard
this piece before? It’s got real charm and quite a bit of
cheekiness about it, and some of the orchestration sounds
a little like Constant Lambert! This is super stuff – a joy
from beginning to end.
Schoemaker also studied with Gilson, as well
as having lessons in counterpoint from Brusselmanns. He uses
two folk tunes – a boisterous theme for the beginning and
end and a slower, dreamier, idea for the relaxed, and contrasting,
middle section. Perhaps not as colourful in its orchestration
as the previous piece it is just as enjoyable.
Marinus de Jong was Dutch by birth but after
studying in Antwerp he took Belgian citizenship and started
his musical career as a virtuoso pianist. This work uses a
number of folksongs and is in a freer, more rhapsodic, form
than the earlier works. It’s restrained and discreet, nothing
really festive about this music – it seems worthy rather than
worthwhile.
Jean Absil was a Walloon and his wife came
from Ghent, which is probably the reason for this work. Using
four folksongs – one with the wonderful title The sneaky
fisherman – this is a very fresh and delightful piece
of light music. It sports luminous orchestration, well worked
out ideas and is reminiscent of the lovely way that Grace
Williams uses the Welsh Nursery Songs in her Fantasia
on that material.
Albert Roussel was born in Tourcoing, which
is just on the French side of the border with Belgium, so
it’s not too unusual to expect him to have written this work.
Using five 16th and 17th century Flemish
tunes, Roussel creates a piece like the Absil, unpretentious
and enjoyable.
Finally, August de Boeck’s Dahomeyan Rhapsody,
the earliest work here which, strangely, is very reminiscent
of Delius Dance Rhapsodies, yet it predates both of
them by quite some time! This piece is a lovely romp and nothing
else.
This is a most enjoyable collection of unknown
pieces in very fine performances and is well worth investigating
because the music is so delightful. The recorded sound is
bright and clear and the notes in the booklet, are in Flemish,
French, German and English. In general these are very optimistic
pieces whose only desire is to entertain. You can’t ask for
more than that from a piece of music.
Bob Briggs
Dahomeyan Rhapsody
(1893) [4:38] 
