In memoriam Hans Vonk
Hans Vonk was born in Amsterdam on June 16, 1942. He studied piano at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, then went on to study conducting with Franco Ferrara and Hermann Scherchen. His first conducting appointment was with the Netherlands Ballet from 1966 to 1969. From 1969 to 1973, he was assistant-conductor at the Concertgebouw Orchestra, which was led at the time by Bernard Haitink. He was appointed chief-conductor of the Netherlands Opera from 1976 to 1985, while at the same time holding the position of conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (1973-1979), as well as that of regular guest-conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1976-1979) in London.
From 1980 to 1991, Hans Vonk was chief-conductor of the Residentie Orchestra in the Hague, with which he toured a great deal both in Europe and the United States. In 1985, he was appointed chief-conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Dresden State Opera. In 1990, he was named first regular guest-conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The following year saw his appointment as chief-conductor of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, in which position he remained until the 1996-1997 season. In the United States, Maestro Vonk conducted the Philadelphia, Cleveland and Boston Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few. From 1996-2002, Maestro Vonk was chief-conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; and from 2002 until his death in 2004, he was chief-conductor of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Hans Vonk was of great significance to both the Dutch and the international music world. His musical style was characterized by structural clarity, rhythmic precision, careful balancing and a stable composition of the musical structure. This style was the basis of his sound and individual manner of making music, which has been of such great significance to the music culture of the Netherlands. He was also an advocate of the works of Dutch composers such as Peter Schat, Reinbert de Leeuw and Kagel, introducing a number of their compositions to audiences in the United States and the rest of Europe.
The essence of his approach to music was his manner of thinking solely in musical terms – casting aside interpretations, points of view and all other matters pertaining to music, without actually being music. Peter Schat once said that there are two kinds of conductors: one kind avails himself of the music, while the other puts himself at its disposition. Hans Vonk clearly belonged to the latter kind. To quote an American music critic: “He’s a composer’s best friend.”

Rhapsody for solo contralto,
male choir and orchestra, Op. 53
Brahms based his rhapsody for solo contralto, male choir and orchestra, Op. 53 on the poem “Harzreise im Winter” (= Winter Journey through the Harz Mountains) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which Brahms had heard for the first time in 1868 in a setting by Johann Friedrich Reinhardt. He selected the verses 5 – 7 for his composition, chose the same key and the metre, and structured a three-part work, in which each part represented a different type of emotion: the loneliness of a person unhappy in love; her lament against the world; and hope-bringing consolation from the Creator. Although the themes and musical shaping of the different parts of the composition stand independent of one another, Brahms manages to create a sense of unity in the inner structure. Not at a motivic-thematic level, to be sure, but through the “Prinzip der gestuften Entwicklung” (= principle of graded development, Schmidt). Brahms creates an arched A – B – A form, and after the minor toning of the first sections he changes in the final section (significant, also, from a technical point of view) to the conciliatory major key. Whereas the first part is characterized by sharp dissonants and vague harmonies and is almost completely lacking in cantabile elements, the second part with the plaintive tone of the solo alto forms the emotional climax of the work. In the final part, the male choir at last enters, not only introducing a new quality of tone, but also collectively providing the alto solo with a sense of security; the glowing key of C major is chosen, a hymnic tone is tapped.

Academic Festival Overture in C minor, Op. 80
One cannot really write about the Academic Festival Overture, without at least mentioning its sister work, the Tragic Overture, Op. 81. Brahms himself wrote the following on the occasion of a performance in Breslau at which both works were performed: “One weeps, the other laughs,” thus referring to the complete difference in character of each work. Christian Martin Schmidt wrote of the “two-facedness, which is so characteristic of Brahms” and by this, he meant the way the composer approached a composition from two different sides. Brahms wrote the Academic Festival Overture to celebrate the fact that he had been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Breslau University on March 11, 1879. Prompted by his friend, Bernhard Scholz, Brahms then composed his “doctorate” symphony in the summer of 1880 in Bad Ischl. Incidentally, both Op. 80 and Op. 81 are the only instrumental works ever written by Brahms with a programmatic background. In his Op. 80, the composer used no less than four student songs, which he presented as direct and isolated quotes – as is the case in “Wir hatten gebauet, ein stattliches Haus” (better known as “Ich hab mich ergeben”, which was also used at a later date by Mahler) and “Was kommt dort von der Höh” – and artistically integrated into the course of the movement at “Alles schweiget” and the famous “Gaudeamus igitur” at the end of the work. A Coda without any motivic-thematic connection to the earlier part of the movement concludes the work with a triumphant flourish.

Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56a
In the summer of 1873, Brahms completed his Variations on a theme by Haydn in B flat, Op. 56a – the key work in his development towards writing his first symphony – in the village of Tutzing on the Starnberg Lake. Here Brahms was able to prove that, as a composer of absolute instrumental music, he was mature enough and also ready to write great symphonic works. The fact that this breakthrough took place, of all things, after he had written a set of variations, does not necessarily come as a surprise in the case of Brahms, the “variations” composer. Here, he could perfect the closely woven movement structure and the soberly rational approach to composition, free of purely aesthetic effects. Inspiration could not be forced, Brahms claimed, one had to “gain rightful and well-earned possession of it by means of incessant work”. The credo of an obsessively intellectual craftsman.
The theme of the Variations was taken from the field partita Hob. II: 46, and was probably not even written by Haydn, but by one of his pupils, most likely Ignaz Pleyel. It is entitled Chorale St. Antoni and is probably based on an old pilgrim’s song. This is a simple melody, although it contains small, complicated rhythmic elements, which Brahms worked into the eight variations and the concluding Passacaglia. The previously-mentioned “Steigerungsprinzip” (= intensification principle) is also clearly represented here: the tempo is increased successively from variation to variation (the only exception being the decrease in Variation VII), the structure of the movement becoming more closely condensed in parallel. In the bass figure, the Passacaglia quotes elements from the Chorale and sets off a magnificent intensification, which leads up to the commencement of the theme.

“This is a refined and stately interpretation eminently suited to the score’s delicate textures.”
--Michael Cookson, Musicweb

“..it is good to have this memorial alongside the Brahms Symphony recording that Vonk did complete for PentaTone – No 2 coupled with the Tragic Overture.”
--Edward Greenfield, Gramophone

"These are thoroughly thoughtful, even affecting realizations of music obviously dear to the conductor's heart....All the interpretations fall well within the middle European tradition we imbibed from Bruno Walter and Eduard van Beinum"

--Gary Lenco, Audiophile Audition

“These are Brahms performances second to none. Vonk finds exactly the right tempo and pulse for each work, and his orchestra plays with gorgeous tone. Alto Yvonne Naef’s rich, dusky voice is just right for the Alto Rhapsody, and the male choir matches her in spirit and style.”

--Rad Bennett, www.goodsound.com

“As a memento of the conductor, and—more generally—as a testament to human courage under extreme adversity, this disc has an almost palpable glow.”
--Peter J. Rabinowitz,FANFARE