Early Orchestral Works

These works by Otto Ketting were composed between 1957 and 1963. They are characterised by the fact that they all, in true brotherly fellowship, have their origins in the musical styles of previous times. The First Symphony and the Due Canzoni were written at the same time and mark a unique moment in Ketting’s own work and in Dutch music as a whole: these were the first works by a Dutch composer in which the legacy of the Second Viennese School is explicitly expressed this way. The First Symphony consists of one single movement in which an exuberantly emotional rhetoric is coupled with an incontrovertible grasp of form. The piece often recalls Berg. The rich and sometimes luxuriant orchestration is also striking, thanks to which this symphony is even now reckoned as being one of the highlights of Dutch orchestral literature — and rightly so! In Due Canzoni the music’s expression is more repressed throughout, with Ketting’s handling of the musical material showing clear Webernian influences. One characterisation that holds true for many of Ketting’s compositions is that playfulness, seriousness and humour are mutually inclusive rather than exclusive. The Variazioni per orchestra were composed in 1960 and were a commission from the Radio Kamerorkest. The orchestra consists principally of a Mozartian wind-band and harp, as it was previously for the Due Canzoni. In this work we can speak of a peaceful coexistence of elements from serial technique and calming tonal anchor points, although these are not classic triads. Collage No. 9 (1963) is one of Ketting’s most ‘political’ pieces and an anniversary commission from the Concertgebouw. However avant-garde these compositions may have sounded at the time, it is thanks to this distance in time that they now possess an unmistakable quality of timelessness.