Frank Martin

The young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra released three remarkable discs of Swiss modernist music in 2007. First came Othmar Schoeck's concerto and sonata for cello plus four song transcriptions for cello and piano. Then came Arthur Honegger's concerto and sonata for cello plus two sonatines. And last there was this one, Frank Martin's concerto and ballade for cello and 8 Preludes for orchestra.

Swiss composer Frank Martin was a curious character. The son of a Protestant pastor, he combined French and German influences in typically Swiss fashion, but also tonality, atonality, and an enlivening dose of jazz. He lived a long and productive life, composed his own Requiem Mass (which he actually got to perform and record to make sure he'd got it right), and then conveniently died. This swinging concerto shows the jazz influence right at the start, where each of the solos introduces itself in what sounds like an improvised jam session. Of course the whole thing's composed with typical precision (Swiss, like in watches, right?), but it's still one of the most entertaining of this century's "group" concertos.

The first recording by the Delta Piano Trio on Challenge Classics. The Trio have chosen works by Frank Martin, Tigran Mansurian and Antonin Dvorak which span almost a century, are from very different cultures, but which are all based on folk tunes.

Swiss composer Frank Martin was a curious character. The son of a Protestant pastor, he combined French and German influences in typically Swiss fashion, but also tonality, atonality, and an enlivening dose of jazz. He lived a long and productive life, composed his own Requiem Mass (which he actually got to perform and record to make sure he'd got it right), and then conveniently died. This swinging concerto shows the jazz influence right at the start, where each of the solos introduces itself in what sounds like an improvised jam session. Of course the whole thing's composed with typical precision (Swiss, like in watches, right?), but it's still one of the most entertaining of this century's "group" concertos.

Martin Klett together with the Armida Quartett perform late Romantic Piano Quintets by Cesar Franck and Frank Martin. "… We only have two hands, and our ten fingers are not capable of exploiting all the possibilities": that is how composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) once described the inadequacies of the keyboard. However, pianist Martin Klett and the members of the Armida Quartet view things somewhat differently. Similarly to the string quartet as a whole ensemble, the piano forms "a perfect unit in itself", Klett affirms.

Frank Martin's most important choral work is his a cappella Mass for Double Choir (1922-1926), though he also composed several short occasional choral pieces, which Harry Christophers and the Sixteen present with the Mass to round out this 2005 release. By arranging the program with less familiar works first, Christophers wants listeners to discover the variety of Martin's vocal writing, and to hear pieces that are seldom performed, let alone performed as well as this superb ensemble delivers them.

A profoundly modern dimension emerges from this confrontation between English works from the 17th century (Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke) and works from the 20th and 21st centuries (Philippe Hersant, Franck Martin, Thierry Pécou). Coming from highly different musical universes, each composition is, however, largely inspired by the founding themes of Shakespeares play, sometimes taking up excerpts from it. The text is recited in English, or rather Shakespeares Old English, as are all the sung parts, in order to reproduce the strong, sweet accent of that tongue.

A profoundly modern dimension emerges from this confrontation between English works from the 17th century (Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke) and works from the 20th and 21st centuries (Philippe Hersant, Franck Martin, Thierry Pécou). Coming from highly different musical universes, each composition is, however, largely inspired by the founding themes of Shakespeares play, sometimes taking up excerpts from it. The text is recited in English, or rather Shakespeares Old English, as are all the sung parts, in order to reproduce the strong, sweet accent of that tongue.

It took Frank Martin a long time to heed his deep-seated inner calling to write a Requiem: 'What I have tried to express here is the clear will to accept death; to make peace with it.' The Requiem was composed in 1971/72, Martin utilizes the whole bandwidth of orchestral sound and explores all opportunities for interplay among the vocalists, as well. Leoš Janácek's setting of the Otcenáš, the Lord's Prayer, is not a conventionally religious work. The Czech composer was more interested in it's social aspects than any theological musings.