Review: Piano sonatas I van Joseph Ryelandt (Flemish Music Heritage)

Ryelandt: Piano sonatas

Jozef De Beenhouwer

Antarctica 66 – 75 minutes

Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965) was a native of Bruges and spent most of his long life in that beautiful city, where he became director of the municipal conservatory in 1924. Before assuming these teaching and administrative duties he was financially independent and able to devote himself fully to composition. Being deeply religious, he composed oratorios and masses, for which he is best known in Belgium. But he also wrote symphonies, chamber music, and 11 (Wikipedia says 12) piano sonatas. Many of those remains unpublished, though they all have opus numbers. This recording presents 5 of them, numbered 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9, the last one having only two movements and considered unfinished by the composer. Only No. 3 was published; the others are performed here from autograph copies.

Ryelandt considered it the task of an artist to create beauty. He was highly critical of 20^th Century developments in music and, as one can hear, entirely uninfluenced by them. In fact, there are hardly any echoes of even the romantics and impressionists in his music, though Schubert may have been an inspiration. (Ryelandt composed many songs, too.) His primary models appear to have been Bach and Beethoven. From the former he obtained his melodic shapes and a desire to make the music flow continuously, though he does not use polyphony. From Beethoven he obtained techniques of working with motives. But he is not an imitator, and the sonatas sound neither neo-baroque nor neoclassical (which usually implies a degree of dryness). His harmonies are conservative, but he uses them in an individual an d imaginative way. Textures are generally light, and there is no virtuosity but instead lyrical expression and occasional passion. The works seem well crafted and are very appealing, indeed beautiful. This composer has succeeded in his artistic goal.

Jozef De Beenhouwer (b 1948) is a senior Belgian pianist who taught for 30 years at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. He has made many recordings as both soloist and song accompanist – according to the booklet, 25 on the Belgian Phaedra label alone, only one of which, of piano pieces by Belgian composers (not including Rylandt), has reached us (J/A/1998). He has also recorded the complete piano works of Clara Schumann for CPO (J/F 2002), and we have reviewed two other releases. Our reviewers were not always bowled over by his playing, but U have no complaints here. The interpretations are sympathetic, and the recorded sound is excellent, though the microphones seem to have been placed rather close. The cover image reproduces a fine paining of church choir stalls by the Flemish painter Emile Vloors (1871-1952). This is part of a Flemish Music Heritage series undertaken by the enterprising Antarctica label, and I look forward to future releases of this quality.

REPP

Bron: American Record Guide, vol. 88, nr. 5, september/oktober 2025, p. 95

Wenn man beim Hören dieser Sonaten die Lebensdaten des belgischen Komponisten und Hochschulprofessors Joseph Ryelandt (1870-1965) liest, reibt man sich die Augen: Die Werke bewegen sich irgendwo zwischen Schumann und Frühimpressionismus. Eines erinnert auch an Chopin oder – etwa die Sonate Nr. 5 – an Schubert. Die vor allem zwischen 1911 und 1920 entstandene Musik bleibt harmonisch völlig der Romantik verpflichtet, verzichtet aber auf die chromatischen Aufladungen, die man etwa beim späten Liszt findet. Stattdessen hört man „brave“, durchaus klassische Sequenzmodelle, monothematische, der entwickelnden Variation huldigende Entwicklungsprinzipien mit großen, durchaus dramatischen Steigerungsflächen, gespeist unter anderem aus Jagdmotiven oder volksliedartigen Weisen. Romantik ohne doppelten Boden also. Aber: Muss man musikalische Qualität immer unter dem Aspekt des Fortschritts betrachten? Nein: Ryelandts Musik wirkt bei aller Begrenztheit der Mittel (die Sonaten Nr. 5 und 6 entstanden während des Ersten Weltkriegs, was man ihnen nicht anmerkt) keinesfalls naiv. Insofern ist er vielleicht mit seinem etwas älteren Zeitgenossen Max Bruch vergleichbar. Die Süffigkeit seiner Werke ist zwar „gut verdaulich“, aber überraschend mitreißend und erlebt bei Jozef de Beenhouwer eine authentische Interpretation. Eine berechtigte Wiederentdeckung!

Oliver Buslau

Piano News, juli-augustus