Eighty this year, Frits Celis is a most distinguished and versatile
musician who played an important on the Belgian – and particularly
Flemish – musical scene. Trained as a harpist, he also studied
composition and conducting at home and abroad since he furthered
his musical studies in Salzburg and Köln. He conducted at La Monnaie
in Brussels and then at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp. He also
taught at the Antwerp Conservatory, but composing remained a lifelong
preoccupation although his output – while far from negligible
– remained limited until his retirement. From then on his output
grew considerably with some eighty opus numbers at the time of
writing. The only genre left untouched is opera. His early works
– from Muziek voor strijkers Op.1 (1951) up to the
Cello Sonata Op.6 – may be considered as belonging
to some broad 20th century mainstream. He then went
through a short, somewhat more experimental period in which he
toyed with 12-tone writing without ever adhering to strict serialism.
His mature output, though often tightly worked-out, is imbued
with some real, though at times austere lyricism and is stylistically
freer.
The Cello
Sonata Op.6 is laid-out in three movements along the
fairly traditional fast-slow-fast pattern. The first movement,
too, is fairly traditional in alternating a vigorous, impassioned
first subject and a more lyrical one. The emotional weight
of the whole work, however, lies in the beautifully lyrical
second movement. The sonata is rounded-off with a lively Allegro
with another slower, more lyrical central section.
The Sonata
for Solo Cello Op.71, dedicated to Jan Sciffer, is
in a quite different league than the Cello Sonata Op.6
and clearly demonstrates Celis’ stylistic progress over the
intervening years. The musical idiom is freer and possesses
an improvisatory character absent in the earlier work, but
this does not mean that the composer has relinquished the
“good old values” in favour of some sort of “play-as-you-please”.
He still tightly controls the material and its development,
even if allowing some freedom to the player. As a number of
composers dear to my heart, Celis manages to find new things
to say within a fairly traditional framework, without ever
being reactionary. The music is rather demanding but its virtuosity
is never at the expense of expression, be it in its more forceful
moments such as the strongly declamatory opening or in its
more relaxed episodes. This imposing and beautiful work should
become part of any cellist’s repertoire, were it only as an
alternative to Kodaly’s Sonata for Solo Cello.
Though probably
best known for his numerous organ works, Louis Vierne also
composed symphonic
works and chamber
music. His Cello Sonata Op.27, dedicated
to Pablo Casals, is a near-contemporary of his Violin
Sonata Op.23 dedicated to Eugčne Ysaye. Vierne belonged
to the youngest generation of pupils of Franck, and his music
then was still indebted to that of the “Pater Seraphicus”
without being a blunt imitation of the older composer’s model.
The music is fairly romantic in feeling and abounds with truly
beautiful themes, but the whole is never overdone. Vierne’s
Cello Sonata is a very fine work that deserves to be heard
more often.
All three works
are superbly played by one of Flanders’ finest cellists, wholeheartedly
partnered by Hans Ryckelynck whose recording of some of Jongen’s
and Lonque’s piano music I reviewed here some time ago (Phaedra
92049).
Phaedra have already
recorded a number of Frits Celis’ works. Incidentally one
of their first releases (Phaedra 92003) is entirely devoted
to orchestral works of his. This is now available through
download only. Although I would have preferred a whole disc
with chamber music by Frits Celis – I suppose that the choice
of Vierne’s Cello Sonata was Celis’ own – this release is
a most welcome, superbly produced and well deserved eightieth
birthday tribute to a most distinguished composer.
Hubert Culot
Jan Sciffer
(cello); Hans Ryckelynck (piano) 
