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Walhalla Symphony (or Walhalla Symfonie in Dutch spelling) was a program which was broadcast in the Netherlands in the '80 by the KRO, between 23.00 and 0.00hrs on Sunday. Each episode was a collage of music and sound fragments centered around a single theme, seamlessly connected. This program was produced by Theo Stokkink.

This program is part of my (Frits Jalvingh's) youth and has had a lot of influence. While listening to tapes of this program I built my own synthesizer (a very on-the-cheap version of the Formant, a home-brew synthesizer published by Electuur). Since I did not have any money I built it using components harvested from old circuit boards, on hobby soldering boards, with wire-wrap wire instead of the PCB's that could be ordered from Electuur. The casing was wood with scrap aluminium plating (and looked like shit); the keyboard was an old organ keyboard enclosed in a home-build wooden case (which weigthed a tonne). I have really font memories of me soldering away while listening to "All alone in the Universe"!

I have taped several episodes of Walhalla Symphony, and I am currently busy putting these very old tapes on CD..

Another Walhalla enthousiast, Erik van Veen, compiled the list below of the first 33 episodes. You can click the images and some of the episodes to get more information:

Some of the episodes I still have on tape (these are the ones), and some I have digitized (the ones with the ). I'm still looking to get the others too! If I have more information on the artists in an episode you can click the name of the episode.

You can click on this image to get a small fragment in MP3 format taken from the episode to get a feel for the atmosphere of the symphony.

#				Name	First broadcast	Description
1				All alone in the universe	4 oct 1981	After this one a "reissue" of the same episode was broadcast on july 13, 1982 which is the version that I have. The episode was inspired by the song "Looking for space" by John Denver and was made by Herco de Boer, Peter Melchiors and Johan Timman
2				And then we saw the piramides	11 oct 1981
3				She comes in colors everywhere	18 oct 1981
4				Like a rolling stone	25 oct 1981	This episode was inspired by the song "Like a rolling stone" by Bob Dylan. Quotes from "Een kleine jongen en zijn beer" from Sjoerd Kuyper and composed by Herco de Boer, Peter Melchiors and Johan Timman.
5				Try (just a little bit harder)	01 nov 1981	This episode was inspired by the song "Try just a little bit harder" by Janice Joplin. Quotes from "Het gezicht" from Ger Ferris and composed by Herco de Boer, Peter Melchiors and Johan Timman.
6				Many fantastic colors	8 nov 1981
7				With a little help from my friends	15 nov 1981	(Thanks Peter!)
8				Inside lookin' out	22 nov 1981	(Thanks Peter!)
9				I'll be your hero	29 nov 1981
10				Roll over Beethoven	6 dec 1981	Title song by Chuck Berry. Moog tunes by Johan Timman.
11				Nights in white satin	13 dec 1981	This was the first one I heard, and only partially. I thought it was great but did not realise this happened every Sunday! The title song is from the Moody Blues (a classic really). The Moog tunes are by Johan Timman.
12				Drive my car	20 dec 1981	With music from the Beatles and Kraftwerk, one of the nicest symphonies. Made by Hans de Bruin, Ruud van Es (from the group Peru), Peter Melchiors and Hans van der Pas.
13				Cold blue steel and sweet fire	27 dec 1981	Contains two songs from Tom Waits, this was my introduction to him ;-) Made by Herco de Boer, Hans de Bruin, Peter Melchiors and John Heslinga.
14				Adios Amigo	3 jan 1982	Title song by Jim Reeves, Moog intro by Johan Timman. With quotes from "Twee vliegen in een klap" by Arie B. Hiddema.
15				You set the scene	10 jan 1982
16				When I'm 64	17 jan 1982	Again centered around a Beatles piece. I only have the last 20 minutes on tape ;-(
17				Time Machine	24 jan 1982	Made by Herco de Boer, Hans van der Pas, Peter Kommers, Rob Papen, Wybo Goslinga, Ruud van Es (from the band Peru) and Peter Melchiors
18				White Rabbit	31 jan 1982	Inspired by "White Rabbit" from Jefferson Airplane.  Made by Herco de Boer, Simon Deken, Peter Melchiors and Hans van der Pas
19				Wine with dinner	7 feb 1982	Based on "Wine With Dinner", a song by Walden Wainwright the Third. CIted is a part of the "Late late show" by Jan Kremer. By Ruud van Es, Peter Kommers, Peter Melchiors, Rob Papen en Hans van der Pas.
20				Beyond the grave	14 feb 1982	One of the best! Great music from Wall of Voodoo, and The Sound (Skeletons).
21				Mr Spaceman	21 feb 1982	For some reason the left channel gave up during recording, which I noticed only after some time.. Parts are from "From the tea-rooms of Mars" from Landscape.
22				Party Time	28 feb 1982
23				Eternity Road	7 mar 1982	This one has a lot of what seems to be original music; the Walhalla theme song merges beautifully with it. This was made by the Future World Orchestra
24				Shine on you, crazy diamond	14 mar 1982	The theme comes from a song of Pink Floyd. With quotes from "Dood in Bourgondie" by Jeff Gerards. Composed by Herco de Boer, Simon Deken and Peter Melchiors.
25				Wie ben ik	21 mar 1982	Intro music by Peru.
26				Traffic Jam	28 mar 1982	Intro music by the Future World Orchestra
27				Get a job	4 apr 1982	Intro music by Floris Kolvenbach.
28				Smoke smoke smoke (that cigarette)	11 apr 1982	Intro music by the Future World Orchestra
29				--	18 apr 1982	This was never broadcast because it was not finished on time. After some changes it was broadcast as Walhalla Symfonie #33.
30				Bo Diddley	25 apr 1982	made by Robert Pot and Gerto Heupink (of the Future World Orchestra). This has lots of great songs and a fragment of Not The Nine o'clock News
31				The piano has been drinking	2 may 1982
32				I'm feeling down	16 may 1982
33				Whole lotta love	30 may 1982	With quotes from "Het beest" by Midas Dekkers (Dutch biologist and column-writer)
34				Straatverlichting (Live in Vredenburg)	23 may 1982	I did not know that my favorite program was being broadcast live! And I was very pissed that I wasn't there... Made by Simon Deken, Willem Maat and Wybo Goslinga. Wybo has images of the flyer for this Symfonie on his website here.

After these "real" symphonies there were three more shows whose whereabouts are unknown. They were counted as "Walhalla Symphonies" but were quite distinct from the earlier versions: (met dank aan Rob en Erik)

35			Het mandaat (a trip to the land of the rising sun)	12 sep 1982	Made by Peter Melchiors
36			Het verhaal (the story of "The Wall")	19 sep 1982
37			(Geen titel/No tiitle)	26 sep 1982	Created by Nick Nolov

The final episodes came a year later. They were "specials" consisting of a one hour interview and one hour of Symphony. They restarted the count at one and like the previous three they were not really "symphonies". Those shows were:

#1			Japan Expressie	4 sep 1983	I've never heard this one. It was largely made by Herco de Boer, and fragments of it can be found on his website which contains some information on Walhalla as a program too.
#2			Kaleidofonie	11 sep 1983
#3			Pedafonie	18 sep 1983
#4			Kompilafonie	25 sep 1983

Most of the tapes I still have of these shows are of quite a bad quality: they are > 20 years old, have been used a lot and the recordings were not too good to start with. Since I had no money I used defective stereo equipment that I got from other people and repaired.. Even so I am VERY font of them. If there's anyone that still posesses recordings of these shows please let me know! If you have anything of value please, PLEASE contact me! As can be seen above I do not have many episodes, so obtaining new ones will be a trip to the past!