The music of this Dutch composer (son of Hendrick and brother of Louis) sparkles with Stravinskian invention, wit, and finesse. Stylistically it is somewhat akin to William Schuman’s Americana, with its own idiosyncratic (that is, Dutch) twist. The performances on this disc are lively and energetic, taking seriously the levity Andriessen composed into this music. If pianist David Kuyken is a bit too stodgy in his performance of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, conductor Alexander Vedernikov leads the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra so effectively in the accompaniment that it all balances out for an energetic, appropriately high-flown reading of this piece.
In the Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Eleonore Pameijer assays the angular solo part with humorous gusto. The disc’s high point is the youthful Berkshire Symphonies, which not only is a fun frolic of a piece, but an interesting example of mid-century stateside composition as viewed by a European outsider: eccentric, quirky, cartooinshly fun yet well crafted and expertly conceived for orchestra. Here Vedernikov and his orchestra are in top form, especially in the Vivace movement, which they attack with precision and without unnecessary bombast.
