Customer Reviews

Frank Martin: Petite Symphonie Concertante; Pavane couteur du temps; Polyptyque

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This fine CD focuses on 2 masterpieces by the great Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974), one famous, the other less well-known but ranking equally high in Martin's catalogue.
The "Petite Symphonie Concertante" (1944-45) is the piece that made Martin's international reputation, & time has done nothing to diminish the many delights of this miraculous work. The unique combination of solo instruments - harp, harpsichord & piano, with double string orchestra - has drawn most of the attention, but one could equally well dwell on Martin's marvelous harmonic sense, the great rhythmic vitality of the music or his (underrated) gift for memorable melody. This is a very fine performance, dynamically conducted and rather closely miked.
"Polyptyque / Six Pictures [Images] of the Passion of Christ" (1973) was composed for violinist Yehudi Menuhin & this conductor (Edmond de Stoutz) & orchestra (Zurich Chamber Orchestra). It is one of the marvelous works of Martin's "Indian summer," the last 5 or 6 years of his life when he unexpectedly found composing easier than ever before (it had always been difficult). In six short, contrasted & very emotionally expressive pieces, Martin distills the essence of 6 key moments in the Passion story - similar to the way in which he had picked 6 monologues from Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Everyman" to set for baritone & piano (later orchestra) many years earlier. The "picture" of Gethsemane, where the soloist plays alone for long stretches, is at once a tribute to Martin's master J.S. Bach & a modern realization of similar spiritual soul-searching in purely musical terms. This is a heartfelt & generally expert performance, on the swift side, with Zbigniew Czapcznski a passionate soloist.
The relatively brief "Pavane couleur du temps" (1920), originally for string quintet & here played by full string orchestra, was inspired by a Charles Perrault fairy tale & appropriately inhabits the world of Ravel's "Ma mere l'oye." (The title translates as "Color of Time Pavane" or "Color of Weather Pavane.") In any version - Martin also arranged it for piano 4-hands & chamber orchestra - its blend of wistful melancholy & brief glimpses of sunlight is haunting.
Other options: Many for the "Petite Symphonie Concertante," including Ernest Ansermet's classic (mono) version on an indispensible London "twofer" set devoted to Martin, & a fine modern bargain version with the Suisse Romande Orchestra under Armin Jordan recently reissued on Warner apex. Menuhin's recording of "Polyptyque" (under De Stoutz) is available only as part of a 5 CD set, EMI (France) 7243 5 73819 2 5. There is also a good bargain version on Koch Schwann 3-6732-2, with Gottfried Schneider the soloist, conductor Hans Stadlmair & the Munich Chamber Orchestra. I didn't particularly like the DG version with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (I believe) that appeared some years back, finding it "thick" & romanticized, but others have felt differently. This is my personal pick for a modern version of this extraordinary work.