Voormolen: Tableaux des Pays-Bas 2 (1924)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd8Cvkbamr4

This suite is a sequel to Serie 1 (1920). Dutch songs and the sound of carillon stand out again. Bravura of Serie 1 is partially replaced with somewhat intimate feeling towards everyday life.

This suite contains 5 pieces. The pieces in the both ends sound like tunes from medieval times while those in the middle are more modern.

1. Homage to Valerius

This melody by Adrian Valerius (or collected by Valerius) is among the favorites of Voormolen. I saw somewhere another music sheets by Voormolen featuring this melody. Harmony is good, but some dissonant chords appeared to me too confusing. While there is a pianist who plays and posts it as published I could not help modifying some notes. The composer's intention might be putting on medieval air by modulating subtonic notes with flats in the left hand, but he often kept the subtonics in the right hand as they are and I could not find a comfortable sound. You can check my changes in the youtube clip.

2. At Jan Steen's A lively description of a national holiday. Whistling, singing, dancing, drinking and drinking a lot. For all the mishaps, life is beautiful. Jan Steen's paintings surely give you inspirations. Technically this is the most difficult piece in this suite with grace notes, clean pedaling, and so on. I did my best.

3. Twilight at Delft

The metronome indication on the sheet is quite fast (quarter note = 96), but pianists play with slower tempi. Balance within the four voices is the key. I could do better than this recording...

4. The Wind and the Windmills

Nice scherzo. I took two versions and this is the faster one. Apparently the whirlwind of this kind does not help large windmills. Windmills here might be children toys.

5. Veere in Zeeland

The last piece of Tableaux is quite similar to the first one in Serie 1. A seaside cathedral in Veere is described.

To me, spontaneous development in the second and wit in the fourth are new facets of Voormolen's piano music. These remind me of Janacek in a pleasant mood.

My intention was to post the movie as a premier at youtube. It failed, and I would like to congratulate the pianist from Netherlands mentioned above. It is good to know that Voormolen is played often among people in Netherlands. My approach is still worth posting.

It did not occur to me until now that Voormolen did not use "mp" in earlier works (available to me) before 1925. Maybe he was uncomfortable about distinction between "mp" and "mf" depending heavily on pianists' personality. In later works of Sonata and Eline, he also used "mp".

instrument: Yamaha C6X