Voormolen: Berceuse (1924) -- CD of Voormolen

Voormolen composed this Berceuse before his second marriage, from which one daughter was to be born. Starting with a Faure-like introduction a soothing tune follows in his favorite rhythm of siciliano. It appears to me this small piece conveys various emotions of parents, such as, hope, anxiety, slight disappointment and acceptance.

I knew that this Berceuse was on the catalogue of Rouart-Lerolle and searched for the music sheet in the net. As a result I found one in a library of a music college in Tokyo. I registered as a new user of the library and they were kind enough to lend the music sheet to a hobby pianist like me.

I tried to keep the sense of beat, i.e., I played heavily on the downbeat and lightly on the upbeat. This sounds so elementary, but somehow I cannot do it well. I often delay the loud pedal slightly for shaping the melody line, but it might spoil the balance because the beat with delayed pedal generally sounds lighter.

I checked my recording again and noticed that I did not feel "unconditional love" towards the child in my music. It is unfortunate.

Since I restarted the piano Voormolen has been the center of my attention. It was a great pleasure to be able to study these beautiful works from scratch.

I burned a CD, which covers the important works of Voormolen:

Tableaux des Pays Bas 1 & 2 (1919-20, 1924), Sonnet (1922), Berceuse (1924), Sonata (1944), Eline (1951).

I am proud of having put my real effort in studying these pieces.