FRANK MARTIN: Suite from ‘Der Sturm’; Six Monologues from ‘Jedermann’; Symphonie Concertante – Thomas Oliemans, baritone – Stavanger Symphony Orchestra/Steven Sloane – MD&G

by | Jun 24, 2010 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

FRANK MARTIN: Suite from ‘Der Sturm’; Six Monologues from ‘Jedermann’; Symphonie Concertante – Thomas Oliemans, baritone – Stavanger Symphony Orchestra/Steven Sloane – MD&G multichannel SACD 901 1614-6, 61:00 [Distr. by Koch] *****:

If ever there was a 20th century composer whose oeuvre is underplayed on CD and in concert, it is the Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974). Few composers have been able to match the integration of tonal and twelve-tone methods of composition in music that is as powerful, subtle and very personal. What’s even more startling is that Martin didn’t evolve his own style until he was 51 years old. On the other hand, being Swiss meant that he was influenced by German romanticism (and, later Schoenbergian serialism) and French impressionism. Given such powerful and opposite influences, no wonder it took him a while to find his own voice. By the time he was nine years old, Martin composed children songs, but he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Geneva while studying piano on the side. By 1926 he was teaching theory and improvisation and founded the Societe de Musique de Chambre de Geneve. By 1957 he was able to give up teaching and composed full time.

Martin’s only opera, Der Sturm, is based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Suite is composed of a powerful orchestra overture, two arias by Prospero and his Epilogue. Martin’s orchestral tapestry is majestic, lyrical and dramatic and notable for his use of the cor anglais and the tenor saxophone. Baritone Thomas Oliemans matches the drama of the music. Six Monologues from “Jedermann” for baritone solo and orchestra (1949) is another of Martin’s significant works in the musical theater genre. Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted the English morality play, Everyman (1509), into a series of scenes that depict the rich man’s (Everyman) accountability to God. Martin’s monologues portray the psychological and religious “development of the main character, starting with his terrible fear of death and extending to his complete acceptance in the conviction of forgiveness,” Martin wrote. It’s a darkly vigorous, emotionally riveting and intimately reflective work. Both of these song cycles are brilliantly orchestrated with clear textures and brilliant instrumental colors.

The Sinfonie Concertante (1949) is a full orchestration of his Petite Symphonie Concertante written for Martin’s patron, Paul Sacher. The original version included piano, harp and harpsichord as soloists with a chamber orchestra, and Martin, fearing it would be seldom played, revised the work for full orchestra without soloists. It’s one of his most popular works. I prefer the original version because the tension and interplay between the two chamber ensembles and the three soloists create emotional conflicts that sustain the electricity of this marvelous work. Nevertheless, this version contains the spicy ostinatos in the first movement and is fuller and more orchestrally resplendent than the chamber version.

The Stavanger Symphony under the direction of American Steven Sloane plays idiomatically and Thomas Oliemans is a superb soloist. Add MD&G’s superb SACD sound and you have a wonderful addition to the Martin discography.


— Robert Moon

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