A TRIBUTE TO VIC NEES Ego Flos (Cant. 2:1) for mixed choir (Poem by Guido Gezelle translated from the Flemish by Paul Claes and Christine D'haen) Els Crommen, soprano; Jan van der Crabben, baritone (Nausikaä); In Flanders Fields Vol. 35 [Phaedra 92035 67 mins]
This CD caught my attention amongst a batch from Phaedra, received just before attending the 50th Cork International Choral Festival, at which Vic Nees' music was to be heard. He is a distinguished Flemish composer, born 1936, who specialises in writing for non-professional choirs, and is expert in judging the possibilities and respecting the boundaries (another comparable figure is Jaakko Mäntyjärvi whom I got to know at and since the 48th Cork Festival - do follow those two links!) Everything is superbly crafted, mainly tonal but original and fresh. The oboe concerto with choir is surely unique, but triumphantly successful - other composers who come across it might echo Brahms, who said that he too would have written a cello concerto if only he had known it was possible before hearing Dvorak's. Oboists who have friends in the choral world (which is a little apart from the mainstream concert world) should beat a path to persuade conductors to programme this oboe concerto. It sets three songs of Marian praise, created 'on the basis of the lyrics'; the oboe sometimes accompanies, at other times is independent and the overall effect is a rich one. The Japanes folk-songs, for Osaka, succeeds in combining Eastern pentatonic monody with Western harmonic and contrapuntal elements. Nausikaä for youth choir treats the helpful rescue of Odysseus, with accompaniment by piano and a part for solo flute.
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