OTTO KETTING (b.1935): Symphony No. 1 (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Bernard Haitink), 2 Canzoni (Residentie Orkest The Hague; Hans Vonk), Concertino for 2 Trumpets and Orchestra (Arend van der Knaap, Dick Teunissen [trumpets], Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra; Otto Ketting), Variazioni per orchestra (Netherlands Wind Ensemble; David Porcelijn), Collage No. 9 for 22 Musicians (RCO; Ernest Bour).

Description: The tough, serious symphony clearly shows the influence of the Second Viennese School, especially Berg. Sumptuously orchestrated, with a late-romantic sense of development and purpose and a very Dutch sonority in the wind writing, the piece is strikingly powerful and emotionally compelling. The Canzoni are more restrained and economical, less orchestrally exuberant but also very Bergian; one is constantly reminded of the Three Orchestral Pieces. In the Concertino (written for the composer's own instrument), Stravinskyan neoclassicism is a more apparent influence, in a most appealing work, light and lively. The Variazioni combine serial organization with Baroque structures and a strong sense of tonal harmony, while the Collage shows the composer exploring elements of protesting music-theatre common to Dutch contemporary musical thinking at the time; this historical recording grows out of audience protests and introduces and dismisses the music - which is not intrinsically especially avant garde in character (being built on clear, repeated rhythmic cells)- as a contemporary answer to Haydn's Farewell symphony.