Orchestral adventures of Der Ring, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal:
arrangements by Henk de Vlieger:
Der Ring - an orchestral adventure
Tristan und Isolde - an orchestral passion
Parsifal - an orchestral quest

THE MUSIC

Orchestral adventures of Der Ring / Tristan und Isolde / Parsifal: arrangements by Henk de Vlieger.

On March 12, 1988, Edo de Waart and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic

Orchestra gave a concert performance of Das Rheingold, the first part of Wagner’s Der Ring des

Nibelungen tetralogy. On July 1, 1989, the fourth part, Götterdämmerung, followed, and on February

23 and March 1, 1991, the middle parts, Die Walküre and Siegfried, followed. The performances were

so successful that De Waart wanted to add symphonic selections from the Ring to the repertoire for a

concert tour of Germany in February 1992. When it appeared that there was no arrangement

available, Henk de Vlieger (b. 1953), a composer, arranger and percussionist with the Radio

Philharmonic Orchestra, decided to compile an entirely new orchestral suite, which was premiered as

Eine Ring-Symphonie, and later renamed Der Ring – an orchestral adventure. Two years later, again

after a concert performance, Parsifal – an orchestral quest followed. Its success prompted a plan to

issue a three-CD set. Especially for this project, De Vlieger completed Tristan und Isolde in April 1995

– an orchestral passion.

ARTIST BACKGROUND

Edo de Waart

Laureate Conductor, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Edo de Waart studied oboe, piano

and conducting in Amsterdam. After taking his degree, he was appointed principal oboe of the

Concertgebouw Orchestra. He won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Conducting Competition in New York in

1964, and was made assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic.

He then became assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink of the Concertgebouw

Orchestra and in 1967 conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conductor of the

Dutch Wind Ensemble. He served as music director for the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 1973 to

1979. After his debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1975, he was asked to act as

guest conductor; in 1977 he was appointed music director, a post he held until 1985. He was

appointed music director of the Minnesota Orchestra in 1986. Upon his return to the Netherlands in

1989, he was Chief Conductor of Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra until 1 January 2005.

From 1999 to 2002 he was also chief conductor of De Nederlandse Opera. He was chief

conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2004.

Edo de Waart has been a guest conductor of many major orchestras and opera houses in Europe and

the United States; he has conducted in Bayreuth, London (Covent Garden), Paris (Opéra de Bastille),

New York (Metropolitan Opera) and Salzburg (Salzburger Festspiele). He spent three

weeks in successful collaboration with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan

in April 2009. Since 2007, Edo de Waart has been music director of the Opera of Santa Fe. His

appointment as music director and chief conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will end

in 2012. He is now the music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and starting in

the 2010-2011 season, he is one of the artistic partners of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in

Minnesota. He has recorded a wide range of repertoire for several labels with many orchestras,

including Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the

Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2004 he was made a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. A year later, De Waart was

named Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in recognition of his merits as

chief conductor and music director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert on 7 October 1945, led by its

founder and ‘first conductor‘ Albert van Raalte, on Radio “Herrijzend Nederland”. Initially the orchestra

spent most of its time in studios working on a large number of recordings for the public broadcasting

system. The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic featured prominently in the

Saturday Matinee as soon as the series started in 1961, and has continued to give frequent live

performances ever since. The celebrated Saturday Matinee has hosted many legendary concerts.

Illustrious soloists such as Kathleen Ferrier, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Clara Haskil and Jean-Pierre

Rampal have shared the stage with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2004, the three classical orchestral formations of the broadcasting 15 system were transformed into

two: the present Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Chamber

Philharmonic. In 2006, these two orchestras, the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Metropole

Orchestra joined the Dutch public broadcasting organisation NPO.

The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra has been conducted by great names such as Bernard Haitink,

Jean Fournet, Hans Vonk, Sergiu Comissiona and Edo de Waart. Jaap van Zweden was named its

chief conductor in September 2005. The orchestra has also worked with numerous famed guest

conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Kirill Kondrashin, Antál Dorati, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur and

Valery Gergiev. Soon after its founding, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic found itself foremost in

Dutch musical life in the number of performances and the diversity of its repertoire, with a predilection

for Dutch and contemporary works in its programming. It has honed another facet of its striking profile

with a great many opera concertante performances. The orchestra has an extensive discography,

ranging from legendary LPs recorded in the 1970s under such conductors as Leopold Stokowski and

Antal Doráti to Jean Fournet’s much-lauded renderings of French repertoire. Under Edo de Waart, not

only did it release its legendary Wagner interpretations, but also the complete orchestral works of

Rachmaninov. CDs with work by contemporary composers such as Jonathan Harvey, Klas

Torstensson, Jan van Vlijmen and Stravinsky have garnered prizes and much acclaim.