Jan van Gilse (1881-1944)
Sulamith (1902)
Der Kreis des Lebens (1929)
Sumi Hwang (soprano), Denzil Delaere (tenor), Thomas Oliemans (baritone)
Elena Tsallagova (soprano), Benjamin Bruns (tenor)
Groot Omroepkoor
Radio Filharmonisch Orkest/Stanislav Kochanovsky, James Gaffigan
rec. 2018/23, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
cpo 555 648-2 [73]
Alongside his monumental late-Romantic style, Jan van Gilse is known amongst classical music aficionados in the Netherlands for his lengthy feud with another Dutch composer, the more progressive Willem Pijper. He was also renowned as a conductor and played a significant part of the Dutch resistance in WWII. The cpo label has already done sterling work on his behalf with excellent recordings including the Symphonies No. 3 & 4 (review), and Eine Lebensmesse (review) summed up as “a sombre earnestly eloquent mass of life: brooding, steely and stern”, words that could perhaps be applied to both of the works on the present disc.
The cantata Sulamith is an early work, composed just after Jan van Gilse had completed his studies in Cologne in 1902 and written at much the same time as his prizewinning First Symphony. This work is a drama based on poetry by Prince Erich von Schönaich-Carolath, in which Satan discovers that love on Earth persists despite his efforts. Alongside monumental ambitions and a certain amount of bombast this is actually quite an easy listen, with lyrical vocal lines and very little in the way of ‘chromatic sludge’ in terms of the harmonic language. There are some inevitable echoes of Wagner, but even with such clear Teutonic leanings there are arguably also touches of Sibelius and whiffs of other national traits from corners of Europe including France and perhaps even Denmark and Bohemia.
Kreis des Lebens or Circle of Life sets texts by Rainer Maria Rilke was composed around 1929 and inhabits an entirely different world to the previous work. Its sinuous opening reminds us of Shostakovich, with some Mahlerian colouration to follow in its cadential gestures and woodwind writing. While described as a ‘cycle’in the score, van Gilse considered this more of a symphony, but we can take it whichever way we like. This impressive work was conducted by the composer at concerts in 1937 and 1938 but the music received negative reviews, and it remained unperformed for over eighty years.
By all accounts it has to be said that Jan van Gilse was not the easiest person to get along with and by no means a friend to critics, but it is also fairly clear that Kreis des Lebens went against the prevailing Dutch taste for German and Austrian Romantic music in the 1920 and 30s. There is a fair amount of French impressionism in its lush, largely eight-part choral writing, and if you like Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé then I have a feeling you will enjoy this much more than the Dutch journalists did. There are sections that recall Respighi in his more atmospheric moods, halfway through the second movement for instance, and as another point of reference the latter section of this seems to anticipate John Williams’ music for Raiders of the Lost Ark or something similar. Parallel chords in the choir suggest early Messiaen in the dramatic third movement, which has further touches of Ravel’s orchestral colours, while the martial feel in start of the finale again recalls Mahler.
This eclectic mix owes as much to today’s listener’s gathering of disparate sources as anything else, but it does show Kreis des Lebens as quite an approachable work, and one that I can imagine gaining wide appreciation on the basis of this excellent recording. The narrative of the work is an expression of the growth of consciousness, the cycle of life from dreamlike childish innocence through a state of reality towards the unavoidable presence of death. Rilke’s attitude to life and death was that they “represented a substantial unified whole”, so while this is a poignant and at times melancholy work it is by no means as doom-laden as you might expect.
These are both very good live recordings with applause included, but the rich nature of much of the music would probably squash any audience noise even if there was any. There are substantial booklet notes and the sung texts are included in German and in English translation. If you like your interbellum music juicy and romantic, then this is certainly a disc to acquire.
Dominy Clements
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