Daniël de Lange (1841 - 1918)

[Alan Howe]

The de Lange Symphony is a very fine work - easily comparable with other works in the broad Germano-Austrian (Austro-German?) symphonic tradition of the 1860s, i.e. Dietrich in D minor, Volkmann 1, Bruch 1, Draeseke 1, Raff 2, etc. Now all it needs is a first-class recording. Wonder whether Netherlands Radio have the van Steen performance in their archives?

[Ilja]

The Catalogue of Beeld en Geluid (the Dutch radio and tv archives) does not list any De Lange works. However, this symphony was released together with Bernard Zweers' First Symphony on Sterling a few years ago, in a serviceable recording of the Radio Chamber Orchestra Holland under Anthony Halstead. One that I prefer over the Van Steen, to be honest, and not just because I wrote the liner notes for the CD. 

[Alan Howe]

It's van Steen's performance that has really opened my ears, though. I must now have another listen to Halstead.

[Alan Howe]

Listening to the Halstead (with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, note), I'm reminded of my reactions to the recent spate of recordings of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms symphonies made by various conductors with assorted chamber orchestras. Halstead sounds so clean, so polite - rather as the aforementioned recordings do. Grateful as I am for his pioneering recording, van Steen digs so much more deeply into the music.

Of course, others may argue that Halstead's approach is more historically accurate. It's a case of what one prefers. I know which I respond to...

[JimL]

A slight tangent, but the quite lovely Viola Concerto by his brother Samuel (Jr.) is available on YouTube. I believe both brothers composed concertos, but Samuel was particularly prolific. A further examination of both brothers' extant music is in order.

[eschiss1]

btw Here are the 4 movements of the symphony if no one's mentioned, taken from the first edition (1870s) Jacques Maho-published score as listed in a library catalog. (I suspect the recordings are both from the 1995 publication, not the 1870s one.) As mentioned here, it was dedicated (opgedragen) to Edouard Lalo.

1. Allegro molto moderato ; 2: Andante con moto ; 3: Scherzo (Molto vivace) ; 4: Allegro moderato.