Johannes Bernardus van Bree (1801-1857)
Overture in B minor
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (1824)
Fantasy in form of a symphony (1845)
Overture in E-flat major
Ariadne Daskalakis (violin)
Kölner Akademie/Michael Alexander Willens
rec. 2012/23, Köln, Germany
cpo 777 743-2 [58]

Dutch charmer Johannes Bernardus van Bree, music director, violinist and composer, man and boy, put down his roots in his birthplace, Amsterdam. According to Wiki sources he numbered orchestral works by Berlioz and Wagner amongst his conducted premieres in the Netherlands.  I say, ‘charmer’ on the evidence of his music, of which this disc supplies almost one hour across four suavely expressive works. His dates raise expectations of a romantic but the works’ durations do not flounder or run to excessive length; in fact they are compact and, sure enough, ‘romantic’ is the style.

The overture in B minor – which opens in Brucknerian mystery – might be surprisingly long but everything else here is quite compact. That overture inhabits an early Beethovenian style. It’s all very smooth but the wind writing is assertive and it ingratiates. It’s not heaven-rackingly dramatic but then again neither is the four-movement Fantasy in (the) form of a Symphony. This is pert and alert with touches of Schumann in evidence. Again the writing for woodwind is remarkable, rather like that of his Danish contemporary Berwald. Each work also has its Mendelssohnian moments (Italian Symphony and the E minor Violin Concerto). That certainly applies to Van Bree’s Violin Concerto which occupies a hinterland marked out by Mendelssohn and by Beethoven’s two Romances. Its three movements are eloquently put across by soloist Ariadne Daskalakis. The E flat major overture, which closes the programme, has a tragic undertow, a little like the Mendelsohn overture Ruy Blas.

The sound for everything (the sessions were separated by a decade) is nothing less than vivid and the playing is testimony to the musicians’ confidence that they have found something that transcends the price of revival.

cpo is not first in the field when it comes to this composer. There have been other labels including NM Classics, MD&G, Brilliant Classics (an alluring disc of “Dutch Overtures”) and Olympia in that long defunct label’s set entitled “400 Years of Dutch Music”. cpo have, however, approached van Bree with a finely honed confidence and winning ways.

Rob Barnett

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