Henk Badings’ music recalls that old “do-it-yourself Hindemith” joke: start with a C major chord, write whatever you want in the middle, and end with a C major chord. Actually, Badings usually leaves out the opening C major chord, but he does have the kindness to “go tonal” at cadences, and he writes arresting tunes and motives. He’s really a very good composer, as the previous release in this ongoing series suggests, and if you enjoy his models–Honegger, Milhaud, Hindemith, and Bartók–then you’re going to enjoy these pieces very much. They date from 1934-68.
Symphony No. 3, with its polytonal counterpoint and angular harmonies, falls very much into the Honegger/Milhaud school. In No. 10, a 17-minute piece in four pithy movements, Hindemith features in the first two movements (the trumpet tune at the beginning), and Bartók in the last two. Symphony No. 14 introduces hints of the ethnic music of Badings’ Indonesian childhood, while the slow finale starts like the third movement of Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta before yielding to a ravishing central melody of curiously exotic character.
The performances here are mostly very good, especially considering how unfamiliar the music must have been to the orchestra and the exposed nature of much of the writing (there are some very high and awkward violin passages in all three works). There are a few moments of tentative ensemble, and the brass could be more assertive, but David Porcelijn, always a sympathetic interpreter of contemporary music, once again proves himself. The engineering is a little bit cavernous but captures the music’s color and atmosphere quite well.
