Customer Reviews

Martin: Ballades

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Eclectic Swiss composer, Frank Martin [1890-1974], inhabits a sophisticated and moody sound world, and these six "Ballades," collectively unavailable until now, offer us the broadest view of his art and emotional predilections, with each work in fascinating contrast with the other. Thus, the lengthy Ballade for Piano and Orchestra (16:56), a composition that, not unlike Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2, abounds in tense, bare-boned lyricism steeped in sardonic humor, when juxtaposed with the following brief Ballade for Trombone and Piano (8:00), a dark, focused, jazzy, Stravinsky-like piece, and then the extended Cello Ballade (15:56), the most mysterious of Martin's utterances, akin to Bloch's ruminations in Schelomo, rivets the listener and demands that he attend each work in turn. The sheer aural diversity of these compositions is fabulous. The Saxophone Ballade (14:45) opens like some ethereal "haunting," as does the Viola Ballade (12:23), and both proceed to mutate and develop in titillating, unpredictable neo-classicist ways. The Flute Ballade, very much in the style of Martinu, and spiritedly neurotic, maximizes the instrument's enormous potential in effect and display, song and stringency. Matthias Bamert leads The London Philharmonic, and various brilliant soloists, with a firm grip on authenticity and balance. The sound is extraordinary.

[Running time: 76:48]

"It is in the romantic sense of the term that I have taken this title 'Ballade' - in the spirit of the ballads of Ossian. There is in that the evocation of something epic: one is telling a story...." These works, ranging in length from 8 to over 15 minutes, contain some of Frank Martin's loveliest instrumental inspirations, & the 1-movement, multi-tempo form seems to suit his unique blend of Classical & Romantic temperaments beautifully.(The Ballades for flute, trombone & cello also exist in versions with piano accompaniment.) It's wonderful to have all 6 Ballades on a single disk, especially in these excellent performances - one of the best in Bamert's Martin series for Chandos. And this is the only currently available version of the Viola Ballade, one of the extraordinary works of Martin's last years.