Andriessen - Orchestral Works

This is something of a seminal release, providing as it does a detailed portrait of one of the grand old men of Dutch music, Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1981), the father of composers Jurriaan and Louis. The set charts Andriessen's development as a composer; despite the stylistic development, however, the early and late music is obviously written by the same composer and despite the more modern techniques deployed (even some toying with twelve-tone techniques), it is all rooted in his particular brand of late- or post-romanticism tempered with a deep affinity for archaic styles, neo-classical lightness and impressionism. He favored classical forms, for instance (if not pre-classical), and these pops up even in the individual movements of the symphonies. The first disc in this set couples the first and third symphony with two (superb) variation works, the second the second and fourth with the Ricercare and Symphonic Study.

The post-romantic first symphony was written in 1930, and is a concentrated work in four movements (lasting a total of thirteen minutes) where most of the substance went into the splendid first movement. The later movements, all of them pretty short, then build on material from the first - gradually increasing in power and drama - to culminate in the very convincing, memorable if argumentative fourth movement. It is a very fine work, sympathetically performed by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (which performs all the works on this set) under Albert van Raalte. The recording, from 1947, is actually pretty good for its age. The second symphony, from 1937, is a tougher nut, though it cannot really be described as "forbidding". Cast in three movements (Fantasia, Pavane and Rondo), it is another tautly constructed, compact work (seventeen minutes in total) that creates a strong cumulative impact, even though the (essentially neo-classical or neo-baroque) tonal language is grittier and more austere than in the first symphony. The 1962 performance under van Otterloo is very convincing and the sound is bright but good.

The third symphony, from 1946, is a superb work that deserves to be widely taken up (and at 24 minutes longer than its predecessors). While the language is tense and dramatic, this is essentially a romantic work (think Vaughan Williams for a comparison, though Andriessen's third is mellower than the language of Vaughan Williams's immediate postwar symphonies), and more immediate attractive than its immediate predecessor. The structure and development of the very strong thematic material is clean and clear, and Andriessen sustains the momentum throughout, convincingly bringing his point home. Jean Fournet directs this 1968 performance with care, sympathy, spirit and drama, and the sound quality is again very good. The fourth symphony (1954) is based on a tone-row, but it is hardly a serial work - instead the tone-row functions as a basis for classical development (and recurs as something akin to a cantus firmus). The overall mood is poignantly dark, and the music is stark and powerful. It may present more of a challenge to listeners than the previous symphonies, but is definitely worth the effort, and the performance here (from 1982, again under Jean Fournet) is superb, even haunting.

As for the couplings, the Variations and Fugue on a theme of Johann Kuhnau for strings (1935) is a truly attractive work, full of inventive gestures and lush beauty, adding up to a marvelous, tautly constructed work (a soberly elegant version of Vaughan Williams's Tallis Fantasia, perhaps). Something similar can be said of the Couperin Variations for flute, harp and strings (1944), which is a wistfully poignant and lighter, accessible interlude between the far grittier second and third symphonies - perhaps intended as a tenderly reflective and hopeful response to the ongoing war. The excellent performance of the Kuhnau variations under Jaap van Zweden was recorded in 2002, whereas Otterloo conducted the similarly poignant Couperin variations in 1965 - if the Kuhnau variations come across as the more compelling of the two sets, it may be due to the fact that the former receives the better recorded sound.

The carefree and smiling Ricercare (1949) is a huge contrast to the preceding third symphony; it is a wonderfully scored, deftly constructed, far from insubstantial and indeed extremely rewarding work. The Symphonic Study (1952) is a very different beast. It precedes the fourth symphony in being grounded in a twelve-tone row, but the construction is hardly serial; indeed, the rows are used as themes and subjected to classical and even romantic treatment. The four movements are based on the same row, but they take that row in rather strikingly different directions - the end result is really a compelling display of the composer's contrapuntal mastery. Fournet's recording of the Study from 1962 shows its age, but the performance is excellent. Edo de Waart's excellent Ricercare (recorded in 2002) enjoys splendid sound, however.

To sum up, this is a really important, and really rewarding, set, and anyone with a passing interest in twentieth century (tonal) music should not hesitate to pick it up.