Alex. Voormolen (“The Dutch Ravel”) - Suite de clavecin pour piano

[@johnmiller1620]

What lovely find, and very beautifully played. His harmonic vocabulary reminds me of a lot of much later Jazz piano.

[@conscience666]

What a splendid discovery! And how well-played! Bravo!

[@hx0ad5]

thank you for introducing me to a new composer to me - and something easier to give my poor hands a break in between nightmare pieces! (...i do wish people in the "classical" music world would learn some different ways to talk about composers other than "this sounds like this other person" though...)

[@PianoCurio]

My pleasure, and you bring up a really interesting point that I often think about. When we compare a lesser known artist to a more famous one, it can give people a useful starting reference in which to experience the work. However, it can also run the risk of being subjective and narrowing the experience (perhaps someone doesn't hear Ravel, Poulenc, or the music of anyone else in the works of Voormolen). I think it's natural for our brains to do it because we categorize things so that the world makes more sense, but it is not always helpful or relevant when you are simply experiencing a piece on its own. The real danger, to me, is when people automatically categorize [insert obscure composer] as a diluted version of [representative/famous composer of their era]. There are a lot of composers who wrote music in the same vein as Robert Schumann, for instance, but it does not necessarily follow that all of them were somehow mere imitators of Schumann.

[@andrewfortmusic]

Thanks for this; I'm always excited to discover new composers! I took some time to listen to his other work, and I honestly feel "the Dutch Ravel" isn't quite accurate--I hear a lot more similarity to Poulenc, especially in his orchestral work :)

[@PianoCurio]

Thank for listening and I appreciate the insightful comment. Yes, I hear Poulenc too! If he were Dutch he’d be “Poolenc”