# Leopold van der Pals: Symphony No. 1



## SacredBolero (May 20, 2019)

I do 99% of my listening on Spotify, which at late night yesterday recommended me the First Symphony written by some Leopold van der Pals.
I'd never heard of van der Pals, but assumed as a not quite beginner but still relatively inexperienced listener, he is someone I just have not encountered. Yet his Spotify page only features 34 monthly listeners (honestly, that's quite pathetic) and two albums. His works are so unknown that descriptions of them fit into his Wikipedia page; he doesn't even have an IMSLP page.
Although I have been recently advised to listen to more mainstream works first, I couldn't resist giving it a try this morning. I found it an enjoyable symphony with some fantastic moments, and with a duration of around 40 minutes, a very nice compact Romantic work. I particularly liked the Scherzo, which unfortunately lasts only for five minutes - unfortunately in that I just wished it kept going!
Overall I thought the symphony was filled with promising ideas that sometimes just were not executed properly. I found that van der Pals overused the string-dominant climaxes and certain chord progressions that made them a bit tiring by the time I reached the fourth movement. I am sure, though, I will give it another go - maybe even later today!
So then, have you listened to this rather obscure work before? What do you think of it? The recording I listened to (I believe it is the only recording of the symphony... so far!) is also available on YouTube.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The symphony is available on a CPO CD which one day I hope will be available at reduced price at jpc (my CD collection already being out of proportion, I promised myself not to buy more at regular prices).

I have his saxophone concerto on a Naxos CD ("Lost saxophone concertos"), it's quite interesting.


----------

