Jan Brandts Buys (1868-1933)
A year before his death, Brahms listened for a while in a benevolent spirit to a still relatively young Dutchman playing for him some of his own work for orchestra on the piano. Brahms judgement was positive; but he did think that the music seemed more like an opera scene than part of a symphony. This comment demonstrated clever foresight since his young colleague would
become well-known mostly because of regular performances of one of his eight operas, Die Schneider von Schönau. His name was Jan Brandts Buys, and he was a descendant of a family of musicians and lived from 1868 to 1933. Having been trained in his birth-place Zutphen and then in Frankfurt am Main, in 1892 he emigrated from his native country. He then lived primarily in
Austria, a country that would not soon forget him; even in 1958, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, a bust of Brandts Buys was unveiled in the Mozarteum of Salzburg. The works of this composer show a great range of quality. His strongest works are those composed around World War I. During this time Brandts Buys also occasionally composed in a, for that
time, modern, late romantic style. This is certainly the case in his Romantic Serenade for string quartet, composed in 1908, and included on this double CD. This most original work culminates in the frankly genius third of the five parts: “Shadows” (Schemen).

Willem Henri Noske (1918-1995) 
was one of the most important Dutch violinists of the twentieth century. He started his career as a chills prodigy and performed on many famous stages world-wide. After the Second World War he developed more and more as a player of chamber music and moreover was leader of, among others, the Dutch Chamber Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and The Hague Residentie Orchestra. Long before the authentic craze broke out Noske discovered unknown old masters and performed their music. Noske formed a number of ensembles to perform the music he rediscovered. With these ensembles countless performances were given in the Netherlands and tours made abroad. The unique sense of style and his powerful, warm tone led Willem Noske to grow into a much-loved violinist. Noske was not only a unique talent on the violin, but also an inspired and enthusiastic patriot. He felt that the quality of Dutch composers was seriously underestimated.

Because of Willem Noske many names, amongst whom Willem de Fesch and Jan Brandts Buys, became well-known. He came to the conclusion that at least 800 works of Dutch origin had wrongfully disappeared under layers of dust. Noske considered the widely heard statement; “During the three centuries between Sweelinck and Diepenbrock in our country there wasn’t any music of any significance” to be a false cry based on a lack of knowledge of and, even worse, a lack of interest in the world of Dutch music. Noske could base his views solely on an exhaustive travel through the unknown.

Noske began to form collections around a number of themes of which Dutch music ‘Musica Neerlandica’ and the violin library ‘Casa del Violino’ are the most important. All these collections are housed in the Dutch Musical Institute (NMI) in The Hague and comprise more than 80.000 titles of sheet music, first editions, letters and autographs of famous composers. Both the Musica Neerlandica and the Casa del Violino are regarded as the most important collections in their area of music anywhere in the world.

Willem Noske himself was a modest man. According to him only the music was of importance and the performing artist should be subservient to the music. One of his beliefs was: “See what you can do for the music; not what the music can do for you.” Because of this, relatively few of his recordings have been preserved.

Willem Noske Pt.2 (Violinist & Collector)

Violin Sonata Op. 5 In F Major, Allegro Agitato

Willem Noske - Violin Sonata Op. 5 In F Major, Allegro Agitato

Concert Piece For Violin And Orchestra In D Minor

Willem Noske - Concert Piece For Violin And Orchestra In D Minor

Violin Concerto No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Finale, Allegro Energico

Willem Noske - Violin Concerto No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Finale, Allegro Energico

Violin Concerto No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Adagio

Willem Noske - Violin Concerto No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Adagio

Violin Concert No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Allegro Moderato

Willem Noske - Violin Concert No. 1 Op. 26 G Minor, Allegro Moderato

Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Nocturne

Willem Noske - Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Nocturne

4. Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Schemen

Willem Noske - Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Schemen

Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Serenade

Willem Noske - Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Serenade

Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Alla Marcia

Willem Noske - Romantic Serenade Op. 25, Alla Marcia

Volgt snel (World Music and meditation, Yoga, Classical)

Willem Noske Pt.2 (Violinist & Collector)

Shaun Erik