“At a time when, still a student, I was playing a great deal of chamber music, my friend Walter Heynen introduced me to Poulenc’s Sonata for flute and piano. That was in 1961. It was love at first sight. I then began to collect scores and recordings of Poulenc and study his works. Today, half a century later, there is much more information available: numerous interviews, lectures, radio programmes about or with Poulenc, and several video recordings. There is also the fine biography by Renaud Machart (1995) and the titanic labour of Myriam Chimènes, who compiled and annotated Poulenc’s Correspondance 1910-1963. I have made copious use of these publications in the notes that follow. My sincere thanks to their authors.

Why is Anima Eterna Brugge taking up the cause of Poulenc?

When I ‘discovered’ Poulenc’s oeuvre in 1961, I soon realised that his music was more or less universally known. Record shops offered hundreds of LPs of his compositions, the radio stations of the time broadcast him at least once a day, and he enjoyed the honours of concert and recital halls with a frequency comparable to that of Stravinsky. Today, in 2010, the situation is no longer the same: Stravinsky is still extremely present, while Poulenc has almost disappeared. There is probably little point in wondering how and why things have reached this pass; the most useful reaction is to try to remedy the situation. This is why Anima Eterna Brugge and I have decided to turn the spotlight on a number of Poulenc’s works in the present recording. In our view he is one of the most significant personalities of the twentieth century, coupling immense erudition with surprising spontaneity. Not to mention the fact that Poulenc was also a particularly brilliant pianist.”

Jos van Immerseel

“At my first public performance at secondary school, I enthusiastically played Liszt’s Second Hungarian Rhapsody on an old Pleyel. In my opinion, this was one of the most ingenious pieces I knew. I often played his Sixth Rhapsody (which is our no.3 for orchestra) but also the other Hungarian Rhapsodies, the Mephisto Waltzes, Funérailles, etc. And on the organ I discovered Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, possibly the best organ piece ever written.
This programme however aims to unveil the different aspects of Liszt’s orchestral work, with the instruments that must have been familiar to Liszt. In fact, this will probably be the first performance on period instruments of his work in the history of the ‘early music revival’. That is why I am extremely happy to be able finally to explore his work for orchestra, because since 1963 (for forty long years), my admiration for Liszt has only increased. My respect does not only go out to one aspect or one piece of the maestro, but I am now fascinated by his complete oeuvre, his significance, his charisma, his pianistic insights, his art of orchestration, his humanism, his revolutionary ideas, his modernistic musical language, his literary gift and his sharp intelligence.”

 
Jos van Immerseel
 

Foto Dirk Vervaet

“Brahms was a great admirer of Strauss. Not so long ago, I had a hard time understanding that; like many musicians I found Strauss’ music a bit cheap. This wasn’t the case when I began studying music as a ten year-old and sight-read Strauss Waltzes under the watchful eye of my first private teacher. I liked the music, but the pleasure was short-lived. In the music school where I next studied, it was forbidden to play music by Strauss (or to enjoy anything); Bach and Czerny replaced Strauss on the music desk. The prejudice against Strauss’ ‘unworthy’ music made it impossible for me to appreciate even his orchestral scores. That never-ending little tune, that continuous stretching of the rhythm, that melodramatic way of doing things… it just didn’t appeal to me… Until I undertook the Strauss project with Anima Eterna, a suggestion by Dr. Ulrich Etscheit from Alkor and Bärenreiter Publishers who send me Dr. Michael Rot’s new critical edition. This changed the picture. I discovered more and more good music, great music, brilliant orchestration. In a short time my resistence had disappeared, and I no longer needed convincing… ”

Jos van Immerseel