Donald Satz wrote:

>I was reading about the composer Jan Van Gilse (1881-1944) and a recent
>recording devoted to his chamber works.  The disc is on NM and contains
>a nonet, flute trio, and unfinished string quartet.
>
>My interest in Van Gilse was aroused when I read that his music had
>similarities with that of Franz Schmidt who I like very much.  Anyone
>familiar with Van Gilse's music? What's your opinion, and do you see
>similarities with Schmidt? The NM disc is available from EVERY CD.

I am a bit familiar with Van Gilse's work.  His music indeed has strong
Austro-German links.  Come to think of it, the comparison (style-wise and
also in quality) with Schmidt seems a good one.  Van Gilse's main activity
was conductor, working amongst others in Utrecht, the Netherlands.  He
there participated in polemics with Willem Pijper, a much more modernist
composer.  Altogether, his output is now seldomly played (even over here
in Holland) compared with other Dutch composers of the period.  Of the
works mentioned above, I particularly like his nonet.  You might want
to try also his symphony.  There is a very fine account by the Arnhem
Philharmonic Orchestra.  Don't know the label and details, but I'll look
them up.  I think this symphony is a great work.  Had he been British, I'm
sure EMI would have recorded it.  Anyway, I'll be back soon with a little
more detailed info on that.

You may want to check out the following:

http://www.ses.ele.tue.nl/faso/e/fasobib/donemus for an good overview of
the Van Gilse oeuvre (and many other Dutch composers; try Ton de Leeuw, he
was our best IMO.).  Also great for checking out what's available in the
way of sheet music.

http://www.cnm.nl for the complete catalogue of NM records (You'll need to
decifer my beautiful native language though).

Have fun. Jos
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