Jongen downloads

[minacciosa]

Yes.

[Leea25]

Wow! Jongen's music seems to have created quite a stir - thank you for the uploads! I shall download them later. I remember listening to his cello concerto many years ago and being a little non-plussed - my failing entirely, I'm sure - my tastes change a lot over time, I find. I have several of the CDs mentioned above, and the string quartets, waiting in my emusic download list - I shall have to get listening!

My thanks once again

Lee

[minacciosa]

You're very welcome, as are all. Must say that I also have not been a fan of Jongen's Cello Concerto, but that is just about the only work of his that didn't inspire enthusiasm in me. I can't tell if it's the writing or the interpretation, but the piece seems diffuse, and never quite gets off the ground. Still, throughout his life Jongen seems capable of producing great music in whatever idiom in which he works. There's so much more to discover.

[minacciosa]

For those interested, here is a performance on YouTube of a Jongen work for double bass. Still prime Jongen if not a major work.


Joseph Jongen
PRELUDE, HABANERA ET ALLEGRO (1938)
DANIEL GWIN, DOUBLE BASS; DARLENE STEWART, PIANO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftd0_G35XM0
3/21/84

Here's another performance by the same bassist with another pianist.

PRELUDE HABANERA ET ALLEGRO
DANIEL GWIN, DOUBLE BASS; JULIAN WARD, PIANO
3/26/92
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTGn82btCWM

[TerraEpon]

Weird reocrding of that violin concerto -- what's with the....direction?....here and there.

[Alan Howe]

Did you read minacciosa's commentary that accompanies the download?

[JimL]

It's not just the last movement.  The conductor's instructions are quite clear at the beginning of the 2nd movement too.

[Alan Howe]

We should, of course, be thoroughly grateful to have any opportunity to hear this marvellous work.

[minacciosa]

As I said, at some point I'll digitize the concert performance. I just happened to grab that tape first and then went on to other things.

[Lionel Harrsion]

Thank you so much, John, for kindly downloading your recordings of Jongen, especially the Violin Concerto; it's very generous of you to share your interpretations which I feel privileged to hear.  I can only echo Alan's mystification about why the concerto has not been recorded commercially.  Please do what you can to remedy that!

After listening to all your downloads, I continued a very rewarding afternoon listening again to the Quatuor Gong's CD of the first two String Quartets as recommended by Petershott (note to self – must get their CD containing the third!) and again I agree with Alan that the first is a gem.  Another early masterpiece is the op. 10 Piano Trio (a good recording by the Ensemble Jospeh Jongen on Fuga Libra, coupled with the Aquarelles op. 59 and the Deux Pièces en trio op 95) which shows Jongen to have a melodic and lyrical gift second to no-one in the Franco-Belgian school, as well as the capacity to build completely absorbing narrative arcs over long periods.  At times the harmonic language reminded me of the anguished Piano Quintet of Louis Vierne (written twenty years later, of course).

Like most here I'm sure, I continue to be astonished by the unsung status of some composers who are undoubted masters; without, I hope, any hint of hyperbole, it seems scarcely credible that these works by Jongen are not in the standard repertoire.

[X. Trapnel]

Lionel, I would strongly recommend the first violin sonata (op. 27), the work in which I think Jongen's style emerges unmixed. There's an excellent recording on Talent (Eric Melon, violin/Jean Schils, piano).

[Lionel Harrsion]

Thank you very much for that pointer, X. Trapnel. I shall definitely order it. 

[minacciosa]

As fine as are the 3 titled string quartets, my opinion is that his finest work for quartet are the Deux Serenades Op.61, Deux Esquisses Op.97 and the Prelude & Chaconne Op.101. The first two have titles that don't convey the ambitious architecture and emotional scope of the music, while the P & C is likely one of the most intense works penned by the composer. I hope you all will have the opportunity to hear these works soon.

[X. Trapnel]

These works don't seem to have been recorded. As with some of the later orchestral pieces modest-sounding titles appear to have discouraged attention.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Jongen also wrote a very lovely Piano Concerto - and (I think) one for harp... correct me if I'm wrong.