Search - Francois LeRoux, François Roux, Gilles Cachemaille :: Paradisi Gloria: Frank Martin's In terra pax, Pilate, Golgotha

3 Great Martin Oratorios, 3 Excellent Performances

Nicholas A. Deutsch | New York, NY USA | 04/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These superb live performances - recorded in 2000 & 2002 - of 3 French-language oratorios by the Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) serve both as testimony to the high standards of Paradisi Gloria, the Munich Radio Orchestra's series focusing on 20th century sacred music, and as a memorial to the late Marcello Viotti (1954-2005), who conducts 2 of the works.



Both of these date from the 1940s: IN TERRA PAX (1944) was commissioned by Radio Geneva to mark the cessation of hostilities at the end of World War II, while GOLGOTHA (1945-48) was inspired by Rembrandt's etching "The 3 Crosses." The first draws its texts entirely from Scripture, whereas GOLGOTHA interleaves passages from the Gospel accounts of the Passion with meditative excerpts from writings attributed to St. Augustine. They rank among Martin's finest vocal works, among the greatest and most directly communicative religiously inspired music of the past century. Here they receive first-rate performances, with orchestra and chorus in superb form, and with carefully chosen and rehearsed soloists; baritone Gilles Cachemaille is outstanding (as Christ) in GOLGOTHA. Viotti conducts the most viscerally thrilling IN TERRA PAX since the classic Ernest Ansermet recording (still available on London/Decca): I would rank this as the best modern version of the piece. His leadership of GOLGOTHA is every bit as fine, and this performance deserves a place alongside the indispensable composer-supervised one from 1968 conducted by Robert Faller (Erato, due for reissue on Warner/Apex) and the recent one from Vienna conducted by Herbert Böck (Hänssler & Brilliant).



PILATE (1964) is one of the least-known of Martin's works, and differs from the others in 2 important ways: first, the text is not drawn directly from the Bible but rather from a huge mid-15th century cycle of religious plays, "The Mystery of the Passion" by Arnoul Gréban; second, up until the final chorus it is cast entirely in dramatic form (it was another radio commission). One of many fascinating choices that Martin made was to have the central character of Christ remain silent throughout. The focus is on Pontius Pilate (a baritone role) and his role in the drama of the Passion, and Gréban and Martin are unsparing in the portrait they draw. Up until that final chorus, in fact, the music is among the harshest the composer ever wrote, which makes for difficult yet riveting listening. It's a challenging work to come to terms with, and so this new version, the first since Ansermet's live reading (Cascavelle), is very welcome. Ulf Schirmer conducts a taut reading of the score, and François Le Roux is excellent in the all-important title role.



Now for the bad news. The accompanying materials are totally inadequate: no texts or translations, only a short note that will be of little help to those coming to these works for the first time; there is not even a list of characters for PILATE. What a shame that Hänssler should undermine their own praiseworthy commitment to issuing these fine performances in such a fundamental way.

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