A neglected figure is brought evocatively back to life
The Strad Issue: October 2025
Description: A neglected figure is brought evocatively back to life
Musicians: Raphael Wallfisch (cello) BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ed Spanjaard
Works: Bosmans: Cello Concertos nos.1 and 2; Poème
Catalogue number: CPO 555694-2
This noble project celebrates the creative output of a fascinating figure. Born in 1895 to professional musicians, Henriëtte Bosmans’s father was a principal cellist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, her mother a piano virtuoso.
From the cradle she was nurtured in music and specialised in piano – also becoming a soloist. During the Second World War, her half-Jewish heritage made for a dangerous existence, leading to her concert-giving becoming an underground activity.
Given her background, her technical competency in composition is not surprising, her colourful orchestration with shimmering harp timbres, and castanets to evoke the spice of Spain, owing a great deal to both Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Although less extended, the most persuasive work for me is the Poème, orchestrated in 1923, which was given eleven performances, including one in 1927 conducted by Pierre Monteux. Here her immediately attractive melodious style is direct and evocative, with idiomatic writing for the cello.
As ever, Raphael Wallfisch – who has specialised in lesser-known music of this period to fine effect – gives an unswervingly committed performance. The orchestra is immaculately rehearsed under Ed Spanjaard and the ensemble pristine.
The two concertos are not so immediately appealing as here Bosmans’s style seems more derivative and boasts a fair amount of cliché, particularly in the Second Concerto where the oft-tried Spanish hues wear a little thin.
JOANNE TALBOT
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