JULIUS ROENTGEN (1855-1932): Symphonies No. 5 "Schnitter Tod" for Tenor, Chorus and Orchestra, No. 6 "Rijck God, wie sal ic claghen" for Chorus and Orchestra and No. 19 "B.A.C.H.".

Description: These symphonies show Roentgen's life-long interest in German and Dutch folk song as well as a similar long love of the music of the great forebear of all German composers, Bach. No. 5 (1926) is the longest here (28 min.): two instrumental movements and, in the finale, a setting of a secular song from the Thirty Years' War collected in "Des Knaben Wunderhorn". This was one of five works (three solo choral and a cantata) which were, as it were, commentaries on the destruction of Germany by the First World War (did you know that Roentgen visited Kaiser Wilhelm in his Dutch exile on many occasions during his last seven years of life?). No. 6 is a 16-minute, single-movement work from 1928 based on an old Dutch song from the 15th century or earlier, itself possibly having connections with Prussian monarchy (too involved to go into here). The B.A.C.H. symphony dates from 1931 (both it and No. 5 were found in 2005 in the Donald Tovey Collection at the University of Edinburgh - Tovey and Roentgen were good friends), a four-movement piece of 16 minutes which handles the famous theme in not unexpected ways. Dutch/German-English texts. Marcel Beekman (tenor), Consensus Vocalis, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra; David Porcelijn.