Search - Frank [1] Martin, Tuomas Ollila, Malmö Symphony Orchestra :: Christian Poltéra plays Frank Martin

World-Class Playing from Poltera & Stott in Top-Drawer Marti

Nicholas A. Deutsch | New York, NY USA | 03/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No doubt in the interest of uniformity with the cellist's earlier CDs of music by fellow Swiss composers Arthur Honegger and Othmar Schoeck, this issue is titled "Christian Poltera plays Frank Martin," but pianist Kathryn Stott really deserves equal billing, both for the extent of her contribution and for the superb quality of her playing. That's my sole gripe. This is one of the finest recent issues of Martin's music, a pleasure from start to finish.

To take the 3 works in order of composition: the 8 Preludes for Piano (1947-48), composed for Dinu Lipatti, constitute Martin's major contribution to the solo piano repertoire - marvelously rich and subtle pieces, predominately introspective... and fearsomely difficult. Stott's performance ranks with the best. She has the technical chops and the interpretive imagination to make the pieces seem newly invented: lovely, direct music-making.

The Ballade for Cello (1949) exists in versions for piano and small orchestra; here we have the former. The 6 one-movement ballades rank among Martin's most characteristic works, presenting an ideal opportunity for his "Classical" and "Romantic" sides to express themselves. Stott and Poltera, longtime musical partners, give a fine performances of this brooding score. His work in particular is marked by lyrical playing of exceptional smoothness and beauty.

This holds true in the Cello Concerto (1965-66) as well. This is one of Martin's greatest later works - the central Adagietto alone, a tragic sarabande, would qualify it for inclusion in a list of the 20th century's great concerti. Poltera shows no lack of rhythmic incisiveness and even grittiness in the unsettled, taut syncopations of the 3rd movement, but again, the overwhelming impression made by his playing is of great beauty and refined musical taste. The Malmo Symphony Orchestra under Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen provides sensitive support. My one slight reservation has to do with the balance in the 1st movement, where the soloist seems to my ears to be placed a bit too far forward in relation to the orchestra. This doesn't matter. What does matter is that here we have outstanding performances of 3 accessible, appealing and substantial works by a 20th century master whose music is gradually receiving the wider appreciation it merits.

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