Piano Concertos from the Netherlands
Ronald Brautigam, David Kuyken, Ivo Janssen, Ellen Corver, Sepp Grotenhuis, René Eckhardt (piano)
rec. 1994-1997, The Netherlands
Brilliant Classics 97000 [3 CDs: 189]

Licensed from the extensive catalogue of NM Classics, the label for music from the Netherlands, Brilliant Classics have put together a fascinating three CD set of works for piano and orchestra (in spite of the title not all are called ‘concerto’) from Dutch composers. Covering almost a century from 1892-1991 the works show the rich stylistic variety of compositions from the Netherlands. 

The set opens with four works by twentieth century composers. The first is the concertino by Henriëtte Bosmans. She came from a musical family and from an early age Bosman studied piano with her mother and by the 1920s her career as a pianist was established. She appeared with conductors such as Monteux, Mengelberg, and Ansermet, with a wide repertory from Mozart to Debussy. Sadly, neglected since her death, her works are now enjoying something of a renaissance. 

The concertino is a brilliant entertaining work and comes from the first year of her study with Willem Pijper. It owes much more to the French music of Debussy and Ravel than the Germanic tradition. It was a success from the start and was selected for the ISCM festival in Geneva in 1929. The harmony is impressionistic and rich, the orchestration transparent and the rhythm dynamic and punchy. Its fourteen minutes are perfectly structured and the quiet, quixotic ending seems entirely appropriate. Ronald Brautigam, who is perhaps better known for his performances on fortepiano gives a rhythmically vital performance as he does in three other works in the set.

The next work, also a neo-classical concertino, is by Kees Van Baaren. Perhaps influenced by the Baroque concerto grosso, there is a clear delineation between the soloist and orchestra. The outer movements are spiky and Parisian while the central lento is darker and more heavily chromatic, hinting at the composer’s later musical style. David Kuyken finds just the right tonal colourings for this richly expressive work.

Leo Smit is represented by yet another concertino this time for piano and wind ensemble. This work is very definitely Parisian, as he lived there for some years and was friendly with many of Les Six; Ravel and Stravinsky are also influences. It is so excellently scored that one does not miss the strings at all. The central Stravinskian chorale gives way in the centre to some surprisingly Romantic piano writing, and is a perfect foil to the lively outer movements. The final few bars hold something of a surprise. On this showing, Smit was clearly a very significant composer and his murder by the Nazis in 1943 was a tragic loss to the world of music. Ronald Brautigam brings great clarity and a sense of fun to this engaging work.

Ton De Leeuw was a pupil of Henk Badings and Messiaen, but a major influence was non-Western music which he studied with Jaap Kunst. In Danses Sacrées we can hear all of the stylistic influences on him jostling for position. There are the dissonant chords and complex counterpoint found in Messiaen but there are also the timeless suspensions of time and layering found in Balinese gamelan. Structurally there is no homage to the form of the Western concerto; De Leeuw shapes the work according to the needs of his materials. I am not sure why the composer chose the title, as I could detect nothing sacred or dance-like. The aurally interesting material is not always easy to follow but is always intriguing in its soundscape. Once again, David Kuyken’s tonal palette is put to good use.

CD 2 opens with the only nineteenth century work in the collection the A minor concerto by Carl Smulders. Much of his career was at the Liège Conservatory in Belgium but his works were taken up by Mengelberg who programmed them with the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Although in the same key as the concertos by Schuman and Grieg, it begins not with a piano flourish but a quiet orchestral introduction. The piano writing is as expected virtuosic, and the work contains what sound like memories of some of the great Romantic concertos. That does not stop it being a really impressive work, which Ivo Janssen in this 1994 recording plays superbly.

The leap into the 20th century is handled well with the delicate clarinet opening of Willem Pijper’s 12-minute concerto from 1927. Thereafter, as in the Bosman work, the Paris of the twenties is at the fore, with hints at jazz, asymmetrical rhythms, and a gentle polytonality. A lot goes on in its brief duration, and it is a very diverting work that deserves some outings on the concert platform. Ronald Brautigam is once again a convincing soloist.

Van Baaren gets a second outing in his concerto written thirty years after his concertino. By this stage in his career, he had earned the name “the Dutch Schoenberg” and the work is indeed serial. It has therefore the angular lines, dissonances, and surprising changes of dynamics one associates with post-war modernism. I have very little patience with this sort of anonymous music even when played as well as it is here by David Kuyken.

Henk Badings is represented not by his concerto from 1940 but by his concerto for two pianos from 1964. That is the same year as the Van Baaren, but they could not inhabit different sound worlds. Here, there are hints of gamelan, perhaps memories from his childhood on Java, but it is Bartok who is the main influence and we hear that composer’s night music and percussive writing for the piano. Double piano concertos are very hard to write, as there are so many notes required, and here there are indeed many, but what choices he has made and what care in notation! The gossamer lines must have taken weeks to write down. Once again, this is a really impressive work that I am surprised that the Jussen bothers have not taken up, as it would give them a welcome break from playing the Poulenc concerto. Here, Sepp Grotenhuis and Ellen Corver negotiate the myriad intricate patterns with brilliance.

There are two concertos on the third disc, both by Dutch iconoclasts. Tristan Keuris was one of the most individual and commissioned composers in Dutch music and at the height of his powers when he died aged only fifty. ThePiano Concerto form 1980 proved one of his most popular works and it is easy to see why. Firmly tonal, it continually keeps the listeners on their toes with unexpected conjunctions of disparate material, some lyrical and melodic, some quixotic and propulsive. One has no idea what to expect next and it makes its twenty-minute duration an exciting ride. René Eckhardt, who made an excellent recording of Ives’ “Concord” Sonata, keeps all the disparate elements in good and understandable order.

The final work is by the lesser-known Jan van Vlijmen and like the Keuris is wide-ranging in style. The composer was early on influenced by Stockhausen and while this work is almost mathematically worked out, it is firmly tonal with clearly recognised motifs and even melodies. It is in one movement but with three clear sections: fast, slow, fast, it; like the Keuris, it keeps the listener guessing what is coming next. There are some wonderfully imaginative orchestral choices including something at circa 26 minutes where I cannot work out what is making the sounds. Sepp Grotenhuis is a worthy exponent.

This is an important reissue of works that in the main deserve to be better known. The sound is uniformly excellent, as are the performances. My only complaint is that out of the ten composers only one is female, the excellent Henriëtte Bosmans. This is a poor show as there are a number of works for piano and orchestra by Dutch female composers including, in chronological order; Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman, Rosy Wertheim, Marie Majoie Hajary and Tera de Marez Oyens. 

Paul RW Jackson

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free.

Contents
Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952)
Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1928)
Kees van Baaren (1906-1970)
Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (1934)
Leo Smit (1900-1943)
Piano Concerto (1937)
Ton de Leeuw (1926-1996)
Danses Sacrées (1990)
Carl Smulders (1863-1934)
Piano Concerto (1892)
Willem Pijper (1894-1947)
Piano Concerto (1927)
Henk Badings (1907-1987)
Concerto for 2 Pianos (1964)
Tristan Keuris (1946-1996)
Piano Concerto (1980)
Jan van Vlijmen (1935-2004)
Piano Concerto (1991)

Orchestras and conductors
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
Jac van Steen, Ed Spanjaard, Kees Bakels, Alexander Vedernikov, Lucas Vis