Marco Polo got as far as two volumes of romantic orchestral
music by Flemish composers. This is the second and, for me, its central
attraction is the Seventh Symphony of the Flemish impressionist-symphonist,
Arthur Meulemans.
Van Hoof's Second Symphony is in four movements
glowing with romantic-classical confidence derived at one moment from
Brahms and at another from Borodin. The first movement starts with the
same supernal quietude as Bliss's Blow Meditation but the turbulent
aspirational tone owes much to Brahms' Fourth Symphony with some moments
both in the first and third movements nostalgically nationalist, as
if in echo of Miaskovsky. Feints in the direction of impressionism,
closer to Dukas than to Ravel, can be found in the third movement. A
toy soldier's pomp struts through the last movement sharing the landscape
with the sort of romance we find in the stronger Glazunov symphonies
(4, 5, 8).
Mortelmans Myth of Spring blethers away
light-heartedly blending Vaughan Williams' Wasps overture, with
the innocence of Quilter children's overture and the delicacy of Tchaikovsky
and Borodin. More so than in the Van Hoof the strings seem rather tired
and tetchy here.
The microscopically small (less than two minutes) In
the Fields by Benoit is a charmer which might have been
penned by Grétry. A gemlike bonne bouche which would have won
fame if only Léon Goossens and Beecham had discovered it.
The Meulemans’ wartime Symphony is the
most 'advanced' work on the disc. It seems to speak of the fenland suggested
by the title: bleak and romantic, dank and haunting (first and third
movements), spidery, impressionistic (Ravel is surely his maitre
in the second movement), sometimes raucous and ‘mécanique’, à
la Markevich, in the second and final movements. The upstart finale
rattles cages with a danse des guerriers that is part Ravel,
part Antheil. You can read more about Meulemans in Hubert Culot’s profile
of the composer elsewhere on this site.
A collection at full price for explorers. Those with
access to mainland Europe’s shops may well find it in one of the bargain
price Belgian or French Naxos Patrimoine reissues.
Not devastatingly original music but no shortage of
charm (Benoit), of confident nineteenth century Brahmsian manners (Van
Hoof), of nationalism strongly Slav-peppered (Mortelmans) and of imaginative
impressionism (Meulemans). Freshen your reactions with these works enthusiastically
put across, decently annotated and vividly, recorded.
Rob Barnett
Romantic Symphonic Music by Flemish Composers - Vol. I
De BOECK Fantasy on Two Flemish
Songs
Jan BLOCKX Flemish Dances
Paul GILSON Sailors’ Dances
Arthur MEULEMANS (1884-1966) Symphony
No. 3 Fir
Lodewijk MORTELMANS (1868-1952) Morning
Mood
Marcel POOT Cheerful Overture
BRT Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels/Alexander Rahbari
MARCO POLO 8.223418
Joost Gils (oboe)