Frank Martin

[Mirror Image]

I have the CD from the Casavelle label, with Brigitte Balleys.
I actually bought the CD because I love Rilke.

Ah yes, that's the recording with López Cobos conducting. Looks like a nice recording. How's the performance, Paul?

[André]

I've "always" as in a long time back liked Frank Martin a lot, but the work that really conviced me of his genius is the songcycle Der Cornet which nobody here seem to mention, The Orfeo recording ids the best of the 3 I own.

Otherwise lots of great recommendations here. His works for voices (oratorios, Mass etc) are great, and I like to throw in a recommendation for Bamert's Chandos disc of the Ballades.

Re Der Cornet: I have the Fabio Luisi version, which is very fine IMO.

[Mirror Image]

Re Der Cornet: I have the Fabio Luisi version, which is very fine IMO.

Ah yes, I've been considering this one. It has received some favorable reviews.

[springrite]

Ah yes, that's the recording with López Cobos conducting. Looks like a nice recording. How's the performance, Paul?

I have no others to compare to. To my ear this recording is good enough.
I have only listened to it three times, I think, over a 20 year period.

[Spotted Horses]

I've have a longstanding love of Frank Martin's music and my listening notes seem to express great satisfaction with almost everything by Martin that I have listen to.

One work which made a very strong impression, and which doesn't seem to get much attention is the Concerto pour Clavecin. Very inventive use of the harpsichord, and compelling music.

[Mirror Image]

I've have a longstanding love of Frank Martin's music and my listening notes seem to express great satisfaction with almost everything by Martin that I have listen to.

One work which made a very strong impression, and which doesn't seem to get much attention is the Concerto pour Clavecin. Very inventive use of the harpsichord, and compelling music.

All of the Martin MDG recordings are outstanding, SP. And yes, the Concerto pour Clavecin is very good, indeed.

[Mirror Image]

Cross-posted from the "Listening" thread:

NP:

Martin
Le vin herbé
Sandrine Piau, Steve Davislim, Jutta Böhnert, et. al.
RIAS Chamber Choir
Scharoun-Ensemble
Reuss



I've got the old mono recording of Le vin herbé on the Jecklin label, but that performance left much to be desired. The audio quality was certainly a hinderance and had almost a closed, claustrophobic sound to it, but that performance did have a certain mystique to it that I found alluring. This Reuss recording is a different animal altogether --- clarity for days and articulation that the older recording couldn't possibly measure up to --- this is a gorgeous recording and I'm in awe right now. There's nothing else I can write here.

Does anyone else know this recording or have compared it to the older one on Jecklin? There's an Amazon reviewer who is somewhat of a Frank Martin specialist who had some interesting commentary about this Reuss recording vs. the older one on Jecklin:

Le Vin Herbe (1938-41) was the first major work by the great Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) in his fully mature musical language, a blend of German and French influences with a very personal use of elements of Schoenberg's 12-tone theory. The music for this retelling of the Tristan and Isolde myth is simultaneously Medieval and modern in feel, restrained and passionate, concise and expansive. Although the piece is accurately described as a "secular oratorio," its score is suffused with a clarity of insight into human existence, and a compassion for human suffering, that flow directly from Martin's deep Christian faith.

Martin wrote the work for 12 solo professional voices accompanied by 7 string instruments and piano; the 8 named characters - all important "movers" in the plot - are sung by individual members of the ensemble, who emerge from and then retreat into a small chorus which is constantly changing its size & composition, sometimes sounding like a 1-to-a-part madrigal group, sometimes like a full chamber choir. This above all is what gives Le Vin Herbe is unique, mysterious sound. And this is what we hear on the classic 1961 recording (Jecklin) with its good-to-excellent Francophone cast, conducted by Victor Desarzens, and with the composer at the piano.

But the unusual demands on the singers have tempted choir directors to reconfigure the distribution of voices into a conventional "soloists plus chorus" format, and the two subsequent recordings of the work both choose this route, with varying degrees of success. A 2000 Newport Classics issue showed the potential downside of such an adaptation: despite fine playing, good work from several soloists, solid conducting and excellent sound, its use of a largish amateur choir throughout flattened the subtle gradations of the original score to the point of courting monotony of texture, and few of the "minor" solos were projected with full conviction.

This new version is a different matter. For one thing, even at its largest the choir number only 2 dozen, just twice Martin's original complement; for another, conductor Daniel Reuss takes care to periodically reduce his forces to one-to-a-part, providing at least an element of variety in line with the original. And as far as the chorus, the 3 lead soloists and the instrumental ensemble go, it's hard to imagine Le Vin Herbe sung or played more beautifully. Indeed, sheer beauty of tone seems to have been a major goal here, and it's been reached. There is also scrupulous attention to Martin's dynamic markings, with careful distinction made between piano and pianissimo, between forte and fortissimo. What we might call the "Debussyist" component of the score - a shadowy, hushed, ravishingly lovely world - is superbly served.

But that's only part of Le Vin Herbe, and to my ears where the performance comes up short is in sustaining a consistent immersion in the drama. The story is all about characters who make crucial choices in their lives, but here there's a slightly passive quality to the characters. Soprano Sandrine Piau and especially tenor Steve Davislim both seem ready to grab hold of the verbal text, but the conducting supports their efforts only intermittently. And some of the crucial shorter roles - Iseult of the White Hands and Kaherdin in particular - barely register. Reuss gave us perhaps the most gorgeous recordings ever of Martin's Mass for Unaccompanied Double Choir and his Songs of Ariel, but there's a lack of instinctive feeling for drama here that leaves many stretches of the score underrealized, even a bit flat. Turn to the 1961 recording, and - despite rough patches in both singing and playing, plus far from ideal sound - every moment is alive to both the lyrical and the dramatic impulses in the music. (Not to mention the benefits of a fully Francophone cast.)

I write these comments not to discourage anyone from hearing this recording, but only to say: there's more to the piece. This is certainly the preferred modern recording, lovely to listen to and intermittently vivid as human drama; but if you have a chance to hear Desarzens, Martin and company, don't pass it up. And let's hope that at some future date someone will see fit to give us a new version that fulfills the composer's intentions both in letter and spirit.

[Mirror Image]

Re Der Cornet: I have the Fabio Luisi version, which is very fine IMO.

I just received the Luisi recording today, so, hopefully, I'll be able to give it a listen tomorrow.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, the Poltera recording is a real beauty.  I think I might have heard the Cello Concerto on a Louisville recording, not sure.  But Poltera's recording is the one I paid attention to.

Just did a proper accounting.  In addtion to Roussev and the two Schneiderhan recordings of the Violin Concerto, I have

Baiba Skride
Michael Erxleben
Dene Olding
Stuart Canin
Paul Kling

So I'm a bit obsessed with the work.  I'd forgotten about Canin and Kling, though.  Perhaps I should give all those a re-listen.

Daverz, I'd like to dig deeper into this obsession you have with the Violin Concerto. What is it about the work that draws into it? Is there a certain atmosphere to it that you find appealing? Are there some moments within the piece that standout to you? I'm only asking, because I love this concerto, too.

[André]

I just received the Luisi recording today, so, hopefully, I'll be able to give it a listen tomorrow.

Let us know how you like it !

[Mirror Image]

Let us know how you like it !

I certainly will try my best. It seems lately that I haven't had much time for anything.

[Symphonic Addict]

I just heard the Concerto for seven wind instruments, percussion and string orchestra (1949) from the recording below and it's a terrific and muscular composition. I don't have recollections of having heard it before, it features some propulsive and intense music somewhat akin to the Neoclassical style of his Petite symphonie concertante (written four years before). The 2nd movement is aptly marked 'Misterioso ed elegante', it has a haunting atmosphere. Some works by Martin are a little astringent and serious for my taste, but this Concerto is definitely not.

[Spotted Horses]

I just heard the Concerto for seven wind instruments, percussion and string orchestra (1949) from the recording below and it's a terrific and muscular composition. I don't have recollections of having heard it before, it features some propulsive and intense music somewhat akin to the Neoclassical style of his Petite symphonie concertante (written four years before). The 2nd movement is aptly marked 'Misterioso ed elegante', it has a haunting atmosphere. Some works by Martin are a little astringent and serious for my taste, but this Concerto is definitely not.

A great piece which I know many from the Chailly and Ansermet recordings.

[Symphonic Addict]

A new release and it's especially welcome for the String Quartet which is not recorded often:

[Spotted Horses]

A new release and it's especially welcome for the String Quartet which is not recorded often:

That's good news, I haven't managed to collect a recording of that work (despite being a big fan of Frank Martin). I see that only one track has been released so far, as a 'teaser," I guess. I'm be interested to listen when it appears.

[Symphonic Addict]

That's good news, I haven't managed to collect a recording of that work (despite being a big fan of Frank Martin). I see that only one track has been released so far, as a 'teaser," I guess. I'm be interested to listen when it appears.

We are lucky since according to Presto Classical it is to be released on this Friday.

[Daverz]

A great piece which I know many from the Chailly and Ansermet recordings.

Martinon also recorded it in Chicago.

It had a cool LP cover:

[Spotted Horses]

Martinon also recorded it in Chicago.

It had a cool LP cover:

I have that Martinon/CSO set!