Leo Samama is best known as a musicologist, who tries to increase the attention for Dutch music through numerous publications. Because of these activities, his work as a composer has always remained somewhat in the shadow. Wrongly, as can be seen from the CD En Hollande. This CD is probably the first entirely devoted to the music of Samama. The title of the CD is taken from En Hollande op.56 for
… soprano and string quartet. The texts come from the account written by the poet Paul Verlaine on a journey through our country at the end of the nineteenth century. Paul Verlaine was invited by the editors of the Nieuwe Gids (the magazine of the Tachtigers) to give a number of lectures. And Hollande is sung by soprano Nienke Austria, accompanied by the Daniel Quartet. The CD also contains the Clarinet Quintet op.51 and the Sextet op.55. These works are performed by members of the Valerius Ensemble. (HJ)more
