Orchestra

In the early years of radio, almost all music sent to the ether had to be performed live by the orchestras connected to the broadcaster. The supply of available recordings was rather limited, and their inferior quality also meant that the existing recordings were often not suitable for broadcast.

The repertoire for orchestra in the BOO collection is therefore very large and also particularly valuable as a source for the work of many Belgian composers. Many of them are not (or no longer) known to the general public, but others certainly ring a bell: Jean Absil, Gaston Brenta, Michel Brusselmans, August De Boeck, Karel Candael, Louis De Meester, Karel De Brabander, Karel De Schrijver, Paul Gilson, Emiel Hullebroeck, Pieter Leemans, Louis Marischal, Arthur Meulemans, Marcel Poot, Arthur Van Oost and many others.

A number of these Belgian composers also worked for the broadcasting company and wrote pieces especially for the various orchestras. Especially in the early years, the production of new works was very high. It is therefore not surprising that autographs - scores in the composer's handwriting - are often found in the collection.

In the early years of radio, almost all music sent to the airwaves had to be performed live by the orchestras connected to the broadcaster. The supply of available recordings was rather limited, and their inferior quality also meant that the existing recordings were often not suitable for broadcast.

Just about all orchestral genres are present in BOO: symphonies, fantasies, rhapsodies, suites, habaneras, marches, divertimenti,...