Orchestral works H. Andriessen

This double disc is at the same time a tribute to Hendrik Andriessen’s orchestral oeuvre as to 50 years Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Hendrik Andriessen is one of the ‘grand old men’ of Dutch musical life. From the 1930s onwards his name and renown as an organist and composer increased and ensured him a succession of eminent positions. Between his professional and private duties (he was father to six children) Andriessen composed many works for organ, choir and orchestra. It is for his church music that he became most famous, but his orchestral works deserve no less attention. During his studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory Andriessen developed a deep affinity to the music of César Franck and Alphons Diepenbrock, and at the same time established close ties with Vincent d'Indy, Gabriël Pierné and Albert Roussel. He was able to renew his music repeatedly without disrupting his inner musical balance. His works display an honest, open mind with a profound knowledge of different composition techniques and styles like Gregorian chant, Italian renaissance music and the French grandeur of first half of the 20th century. One of his most successful orchestral pieces is the Variations and fugue on a theme of Johann Kuhnau. The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in the summer of 1945. Their first broadcast took place on 7 October 1945 with Albert Van Raalte. After conductors Paul van Kempen and Bernard Haitink, Maître Jean Fournet transformed the orchestra into ‘the best French orchestra outside France’ (1961). He also paid much attention to Dutch music, a trait that he shared with his successor Willem van Otterloo. This overlapping of repertoire gave the orchestra a great flexibility. Edo de Waart’s arrival in 1989 was the start of a particularly successful period for the orchestra. In the orchestra’s jubilee year of 2005 Jaap van Zweden became the orchestra’s principal conductor.