Fanfare Reviews
from July/August 1998

GOTKOWSKI Hommage à Jean de La Fontaine. Oratorio Olympique • Norbert Nozy, cond; Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides; Ex Tempore; Les Pastoreaux • RENÉ GAILLY CD87 132 (52:25)

SYMPHONIC BAND OF THE BELGIAN GUIDES • Yvon Ducène, cond • RENÉ GAILLY CD86 018, analog (39:29)

MILHAUD Suite française. DE BOECK (arr. Prévost) Rhapsody on Themes from Dahomey. BIZET (arr. Dureau): L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2: Minuet; Farandole. BARTÓK (arr. Prévost) Allegro barbaro. GRANADOS (arr. Prevost) Danzas españoles: Andaluza; Rondo alla Aragonese

BELGIAN COMPOSERS OF THE ANTWERP CONSERVATORY • Beatrijs Schilders (vc); Urbain Boodts (pn) • RENÉ GAILLY CD87 135 (62:09)

CALLAERTS Gavotte. WAMBACH Andante appassionata. GILSON Suite. BLOCKX Sérénade de Milenka. KEURVELS Een kinderideaal. DURLET De toevlucht van uw ogen. VAN DEN BROECK Poëma. MAES Impromptu. D'HAEYER Sarabande BEA

Ida Gotkowsky (b. 1933) is a composer of considerable talent, but her musical language may strike some as ultraconservative. This is music that pays no attention at all to trends of the 20th century, going its own way with pleasant harmony, nice melodies--often suggestive of French folk song--and traditional forms and genres. The Homage to La Fontaine is a setting of five familiar fables for mixed choir, children's chorus, and orchestra. This is an attractive and entertaining work that contains some particularly pretty music for the children's chorus. The Olympic Oratorio is a short, celebratory ode--slightly more modem in sound than the La Fontaine settings--written for the Winter Olympics at Albertville in 1992. As in most music designed for such occasions, the work is largely exhortatory and triumphant, but the composer admirably manages to keep the bombast customary in this sort of piece to a minimum. Both choruses sing very beautifully, and the recorded sound is quite nice, especially favorable to the children's voices. The notes are in many languages, but the texts are only in French.

In the second of these discs, the Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides can be heard by itself. It is quite a group, playing with great finesse, especially in passages requiring a buoyant sense of rhythm. Milhaud's charming Suite française is consequently played very nicely. As with most collections of band music, the repertoire depends mostly on arrangements. The most impressive of these is Bartók's Allegro barbaro, which not only sounds very good in this rendition but is also played with a good deal of energy. The cover of the disc calls this recording historic but does not say why. It dates from 1974 and the recorded sound is very good. It is a very nice disc, but at a mere 39 minutes, it is hard to recommend it.

The final disc is a program of works written for cello and piano by composers associated with the Royal Flemish Conservatory. These are consistently pleasant works, some occasionally catching the ear with a nice turn of phrase or a characteristic melody. There are no forgotten masterpieces here, but the longest work on the disc, the four-movement Suite by Paul Gilson, has a number of memorable ideas. Although the works span nearly a century, with the latest, Jef Maes's Impromptu, written in 1966, the language is tonal and traditional; in fact, it rarely strays past the late 19th century harmonically. The performances are quite fine, clearly committed, and technically impressive. But ultimately this a special disc that will appeal mostly to those who, like these dedicated performers, wish to celebrate the achievements of the Antwerp conservatory and the fine composers who have been a part of it.

Richard Burke

Home - Favorites - Composers - CD Big List- Reviews - Books - Links - Search - About Us

Fanfare Reviews from July/August 1998

Fanfare Reviews
from July/August 1998