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CHAN 9411 cover.qxd 26/3/08 12:19 pm Page 1 Chan 9411 CHANDOS Frank MARTIN Maria-Triptychon Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann • Suite from ‘Der Sturm’ The London Philharmonic Matthias Bamert CHAN 9411 BOOK.qxd 26/3/08 12:22 pm Page 2 Frank Martin (1890–1974) Suite from Der Sturm 21:27 1 Overture: Adagio molto tranquillo 8:35 2 Prospero ‘Mein Ariel, hast du, der Luft nur ist…’ 5:07 3 Allegretto alla marcia 2:58 4 Epilogue: Larghetto 4:47 Maria-Triptychon 23:57 for soprano, violin and orchestra 5 Ave Maria: Adagio 4:30 6 Magnificat: Andante energico 11:39 7 Stabat Mater: Molto lento 7:46 Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann 22:36 for baritone and orchestra 8 1 ‘Ist alls zu End das Freudenmahl’ 4:27 Lento 9 2 ‘Ach Gott, wie graust mir vor dem Tod’ 4:13 Allegro agitato 10 3 ‘Ist als wenn eins gerufen hätt’ 3:08 Lento Frank Martin Lebrecht Collection 3 CHAN 9411 BOOK.qxd 26/3/08 12:22 pm Page 4 11 4 ‘So wollt ich ganz vernichtet sein’ 2:24 Molto lento Frank Martin: Maria-Triptychon etc. 12 5 ‘Ja! Ich glaub: solches hat Er vollbracht’ 3:06 Andante con moto Each of the three pieces on the present notable feature of the cycle of prayers is its 13 6 ‘O ewiger Gott!’ 5:01 recording explores Frank Martin’s most use of an obbligato solo violin, almost in Largo expansive responses to texts, in the sense that concerto fashion, in addition to the soprano TT 68:22 they each use a fully-scored orchestra as the voice which sings the texts of the Ave Maria, means of projecting their poem, play or Magnificat and Stabat Mater. The piece, Lynda Russell soprano prayer. Although in the case of Martin’s opera, composed between 1967–8, was written for David Wilson-Johnson baritone Der Sturm, after Shakespeare’s The Tempest, two specific performers: the soprano Irmgard Duncan Riddell violin we have for the moment to content ourselves Seefried and the violinist Wolfgang The London Philharmonic with an orchestral suite from the opera, these Schneiderhan. three pieces nonetheless offer a perspective From the first bars of the Ave Maria we Matthias Bamert into a side of Martin’s profound musical enter a still, mystical world. From the sound of response which has perhaps been largely the slowly soaring violin, doubled by harp forgotten. harmonics and una corda piano, it is clear that His musical language betrays a number of Martin has found in these Marian texts a different roots, even though these cannot be release from the angst which pervaded a good traced back to specific teachers. There is also deal of his earlier music. Although the piece is a considerable element of change, perceptible rich in added-note dissonance and highly on the present recording from the somewhat sophisticated in its harmony, clear major Mahlerian Jedermann settings, dating from the chords are used as the agency of this release, early years of the Second World War, through and the piece cadences from D into C sharp the operatic suite from Der Sturm from the major, richly scored for the strings with the early 1950s, to an altogether more visionary solo violin soaring above: a magical and sound-world in the Maria-Tryptichon. memorable effect. The orchestral settings of the three Marian The Magnificat is immediately busier, more prayers of the Maria-Tryptichon are unusual insistent in its almost neo-classical rhythms, and in format, as well as in their usage of the more dissonant with its two levels of wind orchestra which they employ. A piano is added punctuations, heavier from the brass and lighter to a medium-sized orchestra but the most from the woodwind above. Over this complex 4 5 CHAN 9411 BOOK.qxd 26/3/08 12:22 pm Page 6 and slightly disturbing texture, both violin and are drawn from Jedermann’s own speeches in (Good Deeds). Pretending not to hear, he suite, arranged by the composer himself, is in voice wing their way, the former frequently Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s play Jedermann, first hopes it is not the voice of his mother who is reality a sequence comprising the overture adding pungent double-stopping to the texture. performed in 1911. The play was based on calling him. The next song sets Everyman’s followed by two of Prospero’s monologues. Avoiding the customary parade of new motives the English Everyman, a morality play response to the admonitions of Werke, while The Overture, which divides into two clear which are frequently used to parallel this text, published in a modern version in 1903, and in the fifth song he is convinced by the sections, is tense and brooding, using the Martin reiterates the first line ‘My soul doth drawn to Hofmannsthal’s attention by a friend. appearance of Faith. In the final song, tonal structure coupled with synthetic modes magnify the Lord’ several times during the Subtitled Das Spiel vom Sterben das reichen originally uttered by Everyman on his knees, and acute dissonance that characterizes piece, recognizable in its motivic shape (a rising Mannes erneurt, (The play of the rich man’s he prays to God in his final hour. Martin’s later musical language. The suite fourth), but entering on different pitches. This is death), Hofmannsthal regarded the play as an Martin waited until his sixties before first elides this with a continuous monologue from not to say that the piece is not sectional: opportunity to revive this mediaeval tradition venturing into opera, Der Sturm dating from Prospero which in turn moves into the indeed, the listener will clearly perceive changes of allegorical street-theatre, and it has become 1952–54. The opera, to A. W. von Schlegel’s Epilogue, spoken by Prospero in front of the in mood related to the text. Most notable is the traditional to perform the play in front of the translation of The Tempest, makes little curtain. repetition of the words ‘Meine Seele’: a device cathedral in Salzburg. While the original dealt alteration to the original play which it sets which unifies the musical form, always an with the rich man’s salvation through continuously rather than in set pieces, and the © 1995 Richard Langham Smith important preoccupation for Martin who acceptance of the Christian faith, admitted that he worked considerably on this Hofmannsthal weaves in a more political aspect of his music. element and a deeper examination of the evils The short lines of the poem of the Stabat of wealth. Mater draw from the composer an insistent The six monologues selected by Frank and harshly dissonant ostinato over a static Martin date from 1943 and have been pedal point, against which the soprano carefully chosen to stand alone, but some intones and the wind punctuate, as often with knowledge of their context may help the Martin, from both above and below. The listener to appreciate what is effectively an insistent rhythm rises and falls in intensity as orchestral song-cycle. In the first song well as colour and pitch, but is essentially the Everyman is about to depart on a journey and binding motive for much of this setting whose calls for his servants to bring his treasure mood is deeply and passionately lamenting, chest. The second song is his response to a and unrelentingly intense. Only in the final confrontation with the figure of Death: he ‘amen’, with divisi strings hardly as analgesic throws himself protectively over his chest of as those at the end of the Ave Maria, is some gold which, on opening, reveals the figure of kind of tranquility attained. Mammon. The text of the third song is The Sechs Monologue aus ‘Jedermann’ Everyman’s reaction to the entry of Werke, 6 7 CHAN 9411 BOOK.qxd 26/3/08 12:23 pm Page 8 spitze Doppelgriffe beisteuert. Martin Hofmannsthals 1911 uraufgeführtem Frank Martin: Maria-Triptychon usw. vermeidet den Einsatz neuer Motive, wie so Mysterienspiel Jedermann nach der englischen häufig bei Vertonungen dieses Textes der Fall Moralität Everyman, die 1903 in einer ist; vielmehr wird die erste Zeile “Meine Seele modernen Version veröffentlicht wurde; ein Die drei hier eingespielten Werke sind als Sopranstimme für die Mariengesänge Ave erhebt den Herrn”, mit dem Motiv einer Freund hatte den Dichter darauf aufmerksam Frank Martins freimütigste Reaktionen auf Maria, Magnificat und Stabat Mater. Es Aufwärtsquart in verschiedenen Tonhöhen gemacht. Hofmannsthal sah in dem Stück, dem Texte zu betrachten, denn Dichtung, entstand 1967–68 für die Sängerin Irmgard einsetzend mehrmals widerholt. Das bedeutet er den Untertitel Das Spiel vom Sterben des Schauspiel oder Gebet sind jeweils durch ein Seefried und ihren Mann, den Geiger Wolfgang freilich keineswegs, daß das Werk nicht reichen Mannes erneurt gab, die Möglichkeit, vollstimmiges Orchester dargestellt. Obwohl Schneiderhan. gegliedert ist, sondern der Hörer kann die die mittelalterliche Tradition des allegorischen wir uns bei der Oper Der Sturm nach Mit den ersten Takten des Ave Maria Stimmungsumschwünge, die der Text verlangt, Straßentheaters neu zu beleben; so ist es denn Shakespeares Tempest vorderhand mit einer eröffnet sich eine ruhige, mystische Welt. Der deutlich wahrnehmen. Besonders belangvoll auch zur Tradition geworden, das Stück auf Orchestersuite begnügen müssen, gewähren Klang der von Harfenflageolett und una corda ist die Widerholung der Worte “Meine Seele”; dem Salzburger Domplatz aufzuführen. Das sie doch einen Einblick in einen Aspekt von Klavier verdoppelten, langsam sich diese Faktur vereinheitlicht die musikalische Original handelt vom reichen Mann, der durch Martins intensiver musikalischer Reaktion, der emporschwingenden Geige beweist, daß sich Form – ein Aspekt, der Martin den christlichen Glauben zum Heil gelangt, vielleicht allgemein übersehen wird.