Arthur Meulemans(1884-1966)

[Steve B]

Another gem; in a different way.

Impressionistic(primarily) in style and dashes of orchestral colour.

Anyone here read any WG Sebald?; well, the Meulemans "Fir" and "Swan Fen" Symphonies(particuarly the former) remind of his landscapes of spectral geography; haunting evocations of a landscape whose equivalent in the UK would be Suffolk and the Norfolk broads(Sebald writes of the Suffolk fenlands and,eg. the lost underwater city of Dunwich in "Rings of Saturn"-if anyone likes Sebald, probably my favourite author, by the way, please send me a pm!).
The "Fir Symphony" is the most approachable: a lonely, ghostly, watery landscape is interrupted by battle-the ghosts of previous soldiers, with which Flanders, is, of course, littered.

Again, the ones I know are on Marco Polo(on E-Music if deleted as cds)


This is a unique voice.As with his compatriot, Mortelmans, of good quality.

Steve

[Peter1953]

Never heard anything from these Belgians, Steve. But I’m quite fond of another Flemish composer, Peter Benoit (1834-1901). He wrote amongst others a very charming and remarkable piano concerto (op. 43b), incomparable with any other piano concerto, I think.

[Ilja]

Benoit's piano concerto, although originally set as a fairly conventional piece, was turned into the second part of a 'Symphonic Tale', the first part comprising of an equally original Flute Concerto (there's a great recent release of that work with Gaby Pas - Van Riet, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR conducted by Fabrice Bollon; on a CD with concertos by Waelput and Fétis)

Meulemans has been a favourite of mine for some time, and indeed a very original voice. He's also quite original in that he kept well away from the Flemish natonalism which was a usual subject matter among Flemish composers - most of Benoit's works, for instance, are patriotically inspired. Meulemans' found his inspiration primarily in his catholic faith, literature, and nature.

His music reminds me of a great many things (mostly Respighi and Honegger, sometimes Hindemith and Ravel) but his voice is unmistakably his own. If you like this material, you might enjoy the works of Jef van Hoof, Lodewijk Mortelmans and Lodewijk de Vocht as well.

[Dundonnell]

In an a recent thread entitled "Concertos for Orchestra"-

http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,2425.0.html

Peter (as in petershott@btinternet.com) wrote enthusiastically about a new release from the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins which contains the Concerto No. and Concerto No.2 for Orchestra by Meulemans.

(The cd also contains not the Concerto for Orchestra by Norbert Rosseau but only the Scherzo from that work: a dreadful practice which I last remember when Delos issued a cd containing the Adagio from David Diamond's Symphony No.11  The days of "bleeding chunks" should be well over. Give us the whole work please   )

I endorse what Peter wrote about the Meulemans Concertos  Unfortunately the questions he asked at the end of his post- regarding Meulemans' stature and popularity in Belgium today and which of his works are the most important- went unanswered.

It seems to me that Meulemans is a sort of Belgian Henk Badings....not in idiom but in productivity:

1931:     Symphony No.1
1933:     Symphony No.2   (Marco Polo/Naxos cd)
              Symphony No.3 "Pine Symphony"  (Marco Polo/Naxos cds-two versions)
1935:     Symphony No.4 for Winds and Percussion
1939:     Symphony No.5 "Dance Symphony" for female voice and orchestra
              Symphony No.6 "Zeesymfonie" for contralto, choir and orchestra
1940:     Symphony No.7 "Zwaneven"  (Marco Polo/Naxos cd)
1942:     Symphony No.8 “Herffstsymfonie”
1943:     Symphony No.9 “Fire Dream”
              Symphony No.10 “Symphony of Psalms” for speakers, soloists, choir and orchestra
1945:     Symphony No.11
1948:     Symphony No.12
1951:     Symphony No.13 “Rembrandt Symphony” for organ and orchestra (available from this site)
1954:     Symphony No.14
1960:     Symphony No.15

And no less than 31 Concertos or Concertante works plus a huge array of orchestral music including three Sinfoniettas and two Concertos for Orchestra and innumerable cantatas.

Is Meulemans not an important Belgian cultural export we ought to hear much more of?