3 for 1

 
Who could ask for more?!?

After spending decades only knowing Johan de Meij's first symphony, what a surprise to learn there are more to explore.

I do need to spend more time with them, because at the present, I am not sure what to think. Certainly I am not the only one to think so after coming off of the Lord of the Rings.

Symphony 2 & 3 certainly sound like concert band music. Such a statement from me is both in admiration and as a deficit.

The multimedia portions are befuddling, but I get it. de Meij's sound world has evolved, which is always a plus, yet reining in expectations is a tricky thing for a listener.

I do look forward to listening to more of the composer's music, and fortunately he has recorded much of it on Amstel Classics.

A review from 2024

About a decade or more before the films, Dutch composer Johan de Meij composed a symphony based around the books from The Lord of the Rings. Once the movies appeared, the symphony received a mighty boost, most notably from the London Symphony Orchestra, although I was most familiar with its original Dutch Military Band recording on KMK, still a pretty stellar recording of the work.

Now, de Meij is at his 5th Symphony, subtitled The Return of Middle Earth, with the composer performing on his own label Amstel Classics . I have not heard Symphony 4 or 5, but what a boon to have de Meij’s first three symphonies gathered together on Naxos.

Symphony 1 ‘Lord of the Rings’ is a cinematically tuneful work full of musical characterizations and scene settings. I only feel Gollum goes on a mite too long, perhaps due to the more subdued Lothlorien and Mines of Moria movements surrounding it.

With Symphony 2 ‘The Big Apple: A New York Symphony’, I hear more of a minimalist take on the music. I get the brassy, motoric events of NY, and the opening movement is probably its best bits, but the music gets repetitive with what seems a nod to John Adams, and the short sequence at Times Square is odd.

‘Planet Earth’, de Meij’s 3rd Symphony, continues this repetitious style, although its final movement adds the element of voice, one he will return to in his later symphonies. Too bad no mention of a chorus is had on the outer physical media, for it affords Mother Earth with a mythic quality that is mighty appealing. The sound effects added betwixt the movements are, like the Times Square noises, strange.

I can’t say Symphony 2 & 3 displace the popularity of the first, at least to my mind, but I am glad to have heard them. The Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble sounds like a solid group of student players, although Naxos’ sonics are quite dry during The Lord of the Rings.

Listen on YouTube

 

Works
Symphony 1 'Lord of the Rings' (42.09)
Symphony 2 'Big Apple' (34.52)
Symphony 3 'Planet Earth' (47.35)

Performers
Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble
Harlan D. Parker, conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2013
Total Timing: 2.04.36

 

I love exploring living composers, and Johan de Meij is one I knew from decades ago, but am now only continuing on.

I wasn't fully convinced here, but in truth, I need to spend more time listening to this music.

As it is, that won't be a problem at all, for this is a splendid 3 for 1 deal.

 

 

 

Find more de Meij recordings HERE!