1395221234-Cc72383
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 WILLEM VAN OTTERLOO The original recordings 1951-1966 The Hague Philharmonic Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Wiener Symphoniker Berliner Philharmoniker CD 1 - total time 64:57 BEDRˇ ICH SMETANA (1824-1884) The Bartered Bride (1866) 18:43 [1] Overture (previously unreleased) 6:32 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 5 January 1966 [2] Polka, Furiant, Dance of the Comedians (Act 3) 12:11 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 3 January 1966 The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) CÉSAR FRANCK (1822-1890) [3] Les Eolides (1876) 8:39 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 7-12 January 1964 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (STEREO) CÉSAR FRANCK Symphony in d (1888) 37:16 [4] Lento - Allegro non troppo - Allegro 17:23 [5] Allegretto 10:22 [6] Allegro non troppo 9:31 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 7-12 January 1964 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (STEREO) 4 5 CD 2 - total time 76:30 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Symphony no. 5 in c op. 67 (1807) 31:48 Symphony no. 5 in B flat D 485(1816) 27:17 [1] Allegro con brio 7:28 [6] Allegro 6:41 [2] Andante con moto 10:27 [7] Andante con moto 10:28 [3] Allegro 5:12 [8] Minuetto - Allegro molto 4:52 [4] Allegro 8:41 [9] Allegro Vivace 5:16 Recording: Vienna, Musikverein, 23-26 February 1958 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 18-19 May 1960 Wiener Symphoniker (STEREO) The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897) - [5] Overture Fidelio (1814) 6:13 [10] Akademische Festouvertüre op. 80 (1880) 10:31 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 24 April 1957 (Academic Festival Overture) The Hague Philharmonic Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 23 December 1953 The Hague Philharmonic 6 7 CD 3 - total time 64:30 CD 4 - total time 74:01 ANTON BRUCKNER (1824-1896) RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883) Symphony no. 7 in E (1883) 64:30 [1] Siegfried Idyll (1869) 16:41 [1] Allegro moderato 18:24 Recording: Berlin, Jesus Christus Kirche, 18-25 June 1951 [2] Adagio 24:54 Berliner Philharmoniker [3] Scherzo - Trio 9:43 [4] Finale 11:05 CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Recording: Vienna, Musikverein, 23-26 March 1954 Symphony no. 3 in c op. 78 (Organ Symphony) (1886) 31:14 Wiener Symphoniker [2] Adagio - Allegro moderato 8:35 [3] Poco Adagio 8:41 [4] Allegro moderato - Presto 6:52 [5] Maestoso - Allegro 7:06 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 2-3 April 1954 Feike Asma (organ), The Hague Philharmonic SERGEY RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 1 in f sharp op. 1 (1891 rev. 1917) 25:38 [6] Vivace 12:23 [7] Andante 5:43 [8] Allegro vivace 7:32 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 21 December 1954 Cor de Groot (piano), The Hague Philharmonic 8 9 CD 5 - total time 76:16 CD 6 - total time 76:52 SERGEY RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 2 in c op. 18 (1901) 33:46 Symphony no. 6 in F op. 68 “Pastoral” (1808) 42:30 [1] Moderato 10:30 [1] Allegro ma non troppo 11:37 [2] Adagio sostenuto 11:32 (awakening of happy feelings on arriving in the country) [3] Allegro scherzando 11:44 [2] Andante molto mosso (by the brook) 12:48 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 12-13 December 1952 [3] Allegro (peasants’ merrymaking) 5:27 Cor de Groot (piano), The Hague Philharmonic [4] Allegro (storm) 3:27 [5] Allegretto 9:20 CÉSAR FRANCK (1822-1890) (shepherds song: happy and thankful feelings after the storm) Psyché (1887-88) (Symphonic Poem) 42:12 Recording: Vienna, Musikverein, 22-24 February 1953 [4] Le sommeil de Psyché (The sleep of Psyche) 7:04 Wiener Symphoniker [5] Psyché enlevée par les Zephirs 2:19 (Psyche carried away by the Zephirs) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN [6] Les jardins d’Eros (The gardens of Eros) 3:18 Concerto for piano and orchestra no. 3 in c op. 37 (1803) 33:41 [7] Psyché et Eros (Love scene) 13:55 [6] Allegro con brio 16:02 [8] Le châtiment - Les souffrances et plaintes de Psyché 15:36 [7] Largo 8:44 (Psyches sufferings and the pardon of Psyche) [8] Rondo (Allegro) 8:55 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 21 October 1954 Recording: Vienna, Musikverein, 22-25 February 1953 Netherlands Chamber Choir, The Hague Philharmonic Cor de Groot (piano), Wiener Symphoniker 10 11 CD 7 - total time 74:15 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869) [1] Turkish March op. 113 (1811) 1:45 [5] Rákoczy March (1846) 4:15 (from “Die Ruinen von Athen”) (Hungarian March from the opera “La Damnation de Faust”) Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 20 May 1960 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 20 May 1960 The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1768-1826) [2] Violin Romance no. 1 in G op. 40 (1802) 8:02 Symphony no. 2 in C (1806) 17:02 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 4 January 1952 [6] Allegro 7:09 Theo Olof (violin), The Hague Philharmonic [7] Adagio ma non troppo 5:03 [8] Minuetto (Allegro) 1:58 LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN [9] Finale (Scherzo - Presto) 2:52 [3] Violin Romance no. 2 in F op. 50 (1802) 9:11 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 8-9 March 1956 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 24 November 1951 The Hague Philharmonic Herman Krebbers (violin), The Hague Philharmonic GIACOMO MEYERBEER (1791-1864) FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797-1828) [10] Coronation March (from the opera “Le Prophète”) (1849) 3:56 [4] Overture Rosamunde D 644 (1823) 9:54 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 20 May 1960 (from the melodrama “Die Zauberharfe”) The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 24 November 1951 The Hague Philharmonic 12 13 CARL MARIA VON WEBER [11] Overture Der Freischütz (1821) 8:44 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 11 October 1951 The Hague Philharmonic EDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907) Two Elegiac Melodies op. 34 for string orchestra (1880) 8:44 [12] Heart wounds (Herzenswunden) 3:39 [13] Last spring (Der letzte Frühling) 5:05 Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 4 June 1951 The Hague Philharmonic SERGEY PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) [14] March op. 33 bis (1919) 1:36 (from the opera “The love of the three Oranges“) Recording: Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, 20 May 1960 The Hague Philharmonic (STEREO) Willem van Otterloo monic (Residentie Orkest), at that time a Berlioz, Brahms, Franck, Bruckner, Reger, itself had the highest priority. His con- Willem van Otterloo was born in 1907. lacklustre ensemble. He is credited with Ravel, Bartók and Stravinsky. But he also summate knowledge of each and every He studied medicine briefly in Utrecht boosting the quality of the orchestra in conducted works such as Alban Berg’s score was legendary, and he conducted and played saxophone in the student a remarkably short period of time. Let us Lulu Symphony, excerpts from Wozzeck, nearly all the larger works from memory. dance orchestra Tower Town Band. not forget what it meant in those days the Drei Orchesterstücke and the Kam- But above all he was a true orchestral He subsequently studied cello and com- to be a chief conductor: eight months a merkonzert; the Fünf Orchesterstücke, trainer. He worked tirelessly on intonation position at the Amsterdam Conservatory. year with the orchestra, active participa- Variationen für Orchester, Begleitungs- (he could sing entire chords flawlessly), One of his first large-scale compositions, tion in the orchestra’s organization and musik z.e. Lichtspielszene by Schoenberg; rhythmic precision and consistency in the Third Orchestral Suite (1932), won structure, and the responsibility for a Anton Webern’s Fünf and Sechs Orches- sound and timbre. He preferred taut, first prize in a competition held by the huge number of concerts – nearly a hun- terstücke and Variationen für Orchester; brisk tempos; he demanded orchestral Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. When dred per year. By January 1961 he had the Fifth and Sixth Symphony by Karl discipline and total control; he had the conductor Willem Mengelberg withdrew already conducted his 1000th concert Amadeus Hartmann; works by Varèse (Ar- uncanny ability to maintain a coherent due to illness, the young composer was with The Hague Philharmonic (RO). cana), Ives (Three Places in New England) musical line and never lost sight of invited to conduct the work himself. and more than three hundred works by the structure and form. In these respects Before long, the RO had become an out- contemporary Dutch composers. Van Otterloo was perfectly suited to the In 1932 Van Otterloo joined the cello standing ensemble that, in those years, recording studio. section of the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkest even vied with the Royal Concertgebouw In 1962 he returned to lead the Radio (Utrecht Municipal Orchestra); in 1933 Orchestra. The Hague Philharmonic also Philharmonic Orchestra, in a co-director- he became the orchestra’s assistant attracted the world’s top guest conduc- ship with Jean Fournet. In 1972 he left conductor and in 1937 was promoted to tors: Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, The Hague Philharmonic, taking up posts principal conductor. From 1946-1948 he Eugen Jochum, Carlo Maria Giulini, Hans with orchestras in Düsseldorf, Tokyo also conducted at De Nederlandse Op- Rosbaud, Karl Böhm, Rafaël Kubelik, John and Melbourne. His last position was as era, and from 1947-1949 was conductor Barbirolli, Antal Dorati, Günter Wand, chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Jean Martinon and Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra. In 1949 he took up the post of chief Van Otterloo’s composers of choice in Willem van Otterloo was by no means a conductor of the The Hague Philhar- those days were Haydn, Schubert, glamour-seeker or showman. The music 16 17 The recordings: 1946-1978 two recordings with the Netherlands the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for Van Otterloo’s recording career began Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, two with ABC and twentysix with the Sydney Sym- in 1946, while he was still conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker, seventeen phony Orchestra, issued by WRC, ABC, the Utrechts Stedelijk Orkest.