RECORDINGS
RECORDINGS
Repertoire
The following works were recorded during the first year of the project (click to listen and for further information):
Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman
Epiloog for Orchestra (1943)
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Johanna Suzanna Hendrina Roepman was born in Rotterdam on August 4, 1892. She had piano and singing lessons and sang in a children’s choir up to the age of sixteen. She was interested in fine arts as well, but ultimately, she chose for music. In her family’s view, music was only part of a good upbringing and couldn’t be a serious profession for a girl. So she studied English instead and was an English teacher until her marriage to lawyer and writer Ferdinand Bordewijk. They met in October 1911, when he had just graduated with a law degree. They married in 1914 and had two children.
Epiloog for orchestra (1943) Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman wrote the Epilogue for orchestra in the period from April through June of 1943.The extra information the composer provides is interesting: Voorstudie voor ‘Plato’s dood’ (Prequel to ‘Plato’s death’). With this Epilogue she anticipated the approximately 75-minute composition she would write six years subsequently, the Symphonic poem ‘Plato’s dood’ for reciters, soloists, mixed choir and grand orchestra to lyrics by her husband, the writer Ferdinand Bordewijk (1884-1965). The dedication reads: “To all who empathized with us
Robert Kahn
Praeludium
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Soprano: Helen Bailey
Robert Kahn the late romantic Jewish composer Robert Kahn (1865-1951) fled to Britain from the Nazis at the age of 73 and spent the last 12 years of his life in Biddenden, Kent and Ashted, Surrey.
Kahn’s experience of migration found a unique expression in his Tagebuch in Tönen, the musical diary of his exile consisting of a staggering 1160 piano pieces. Initially started in Germany in 1935 (Nos. 1 – 211) and continued in the UK after his emigration in 1939 (Nos. 212-1160), the Tagebuch amounts to approximately 30 hours of music in total, affirming Kahn’s unbroken power of
Praeludium “Singe, o singe dich, Seele” ‘Sing, o sing yourself, my soul’ is a beautifully crafted Christian Morgenstern poem that uses language, imagery, and symbolism to convey a message of seeking solace and beauty through the power of music and the imagination. The poem is written in free verse, rich in imagery, using vivid and sensory language to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. It uses symbolism to convey the idea of music and singing as a means of escaping the worries and troubles of the world, transcending to a higher plane of existence. The poem directly addresses
Hans Krieg
Jiskor (In Memoriam) (1955)
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Soprano: Adaya Peled
Hans Max Krieg was born in 1899 in Heynau, Silesia, to a family of Jewish leather workers. Music played an important role in the family home. At the age of six he played the piano and began composing two years later. As of 1923, Krieg worked as a choral accompanist, opera conductor and composer of theatre music at the leading theatres in Germany and Zürich and later he expanded his career in Breslau. In April 1933, caricatures of Krieg appeared in Nazi magazines, leading to his immediate escape to the Netherlands with his family. It wasn’t easy to build a new life in a foreign country.
Jiskor (In Memoriam) (1955) In the oeuvre of Hans Krieg the title Jiskor appears several times. The Jewish invocation Jiskor is a prayer for the departed, for parents that passed away, for loved ones. Hans Krieg composed his large requiem Jiskor for soloists, two choirs and a symphony orchestra in memory of the six million Jews that were killed during World War II. The composition has four movements, preceded by a prelude and succeeded by a closing postlude. The first performance took place on February 27, 1960, in the Bachzaal in Amsterdam. It was conducted by the
Robert (Bob) Hanf
Serenade for orchestra (1935)
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Bob Hanf was born in Amsterdam on November 25, 1894, to parents of German-Jewish decent, and grew up in an affluent, artistic environment. His mother was an accomplished pianist. He received his first violin lessons in the ensemble classes led by George Scager, a viola player in the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Bob Hanf showed a great talent for drawing and he received lessons from the famous Amsterdam painter George Breitner. He became a versatile artist: drawing, painting, writing, playing the violin and composing. Nowadays the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam owns and displays several of his works.
Serenade for orchestra (1935) For the first performance of the Serenade for orchestra on March 12, 1937, by the ‘Haarlemse Orkest Vereeniging’ conducted by Frits Schuurman, Robert Hanf wrote the explanatory text in program book. After introducing himself, he noted: “His Serenade (for woodwinds, horns and string orchestra) was created in 1935. The five short movements display a clear thematic coherence, causing the composition as a whole to have a symphonic rather than suite-like character.” Critic G.J. Kalt wrote in the ‘Haarlems Dagblad’ the next day that the composition of Hanf met a warm
Leo Smit
Suite For Orchestra (1926/1958, 2021)
Arranged by Bob Zimmerman and Godefroy Devreese
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Leo Smit was born in Amsterdam into a Jewish family. He studied at the gymnasium until the age of seventeen and left school without a diploma; his deepest wish was to study music. He attended composition lessons with Bernard Zweers and Sem Dresden at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1924 he was the first composer to graduate “cum laude” in composition. Early on and throughout his career, his orchestral works were performed by the Concertgebouw Orchestra, under the direction of well-known conductors like Cornelis Dopper, Pierre Monteux and Eduard van Beinum. For three years he taught harmony
Suite for Orchestra (1926/1958, 2021) Huib Ramaer provides the following illustration in the booklet of the cd box ‘Leo Smit Complete Works’: The character of the Prélude from Smit’s Suite pour le piano is primarily aggressive, and for a reason. As well as suggesting Ravel’s Jeux d’eau, this is a musical depiction of the turmoil between the Dutch and the Spanish. (….) The Suite is clearly influenced by the piano music of Ravel. In the Tombeau de Couperin-like Forlane, the bitonal writing produces some extremely sour chords, while the challengingly bold Rondeau is totally characteristic of Smit, but with a wink
Rosy Wertheim
Lanceloet: Drie Voorspelen
Conducted by Shelley Katz using the Symphonova
Rosy Wertheim (1888-1949) studied composition with Sem Dresden in Amsterdam. She was one of the first women in the Netherlands to complete a professional music and composition education. In 1921, she was employed at the Amsterdam Music Lyceum, where she taught piano and music theory until 1929. In 1929, Wertheim moved to Paris, where she worked hard and met many musicians and artists. Her apartment was a meeting place for prominent French composers like Milhaud, Honegger, Messiaen, Jolivet and Ibert. She took composition lessons with Louis Aubert
Lanceloet: Drie Voorspelen Rosy Wertheim hardly ever dated her manuscripts. When and for what occasion Lanceloet – Drie voorspelen was composed remains unknown, nor was this work ever published. In the second movement, Wertheim uses themes from her string quartet written in Paris in 1935. In an article in the Haagsche Courant of 5th October 1936, Lanceloet – Drie voorspelen is mentioned as one of her compositions. It is thus very likely that Rosy Wertheim composed this piece during her stay in Paris. In addition to the manuscript scores and parts for flute, violin, viola and
