The Erxleben recording
of the Violin Concerto is the second
version I have heard recently. The first
was on Louisville First Edition FECD-0020
on which Paul Kling played the work
with the Louisville
Orchestra conducted by Robert Whitney.
That was a 1963 recording coupled with
another Louisville special: Martin’s
Cello Concerto recorded by Steven Kates
in 1973. Both are in analogue stereo.
There is no competition in recording
quality so far as the Violin Concerto
is concerned but Erxleben leans less
heavily than Kling on the work’s romantic-impressionist
credentials. It is not that he is not
lyrical. In the first movement the violin’s
‘speaking voice’ is intensely lyrical.
However the overall effect is less impressionistic
... more objective and emotionally cool
than in the Kling version. Kling and
Whitney bring out the softer Ravelian
qualities. Erxleben makes the concerto
more of a work of the 20th century -
closer to Rawsthorne than Ravel. The
sound is sumptuous on this MDG SACD;
it opens up the textures in a way that
the Louisville disc could not hope to
do - vivid and closely recorded as it
is.
The
Concerto for seven wind instruments
was premiered by the Musical Society
of Bern conducted by Luc Balmer on 25
October 1949. It is a cooler and more
ascetic work than the Violin Concerto
although echoes of Ravel can be heard
as in 3:50 in the first movement. The
solo lines are often given syncopated
material which has a mildly caustic
edge and which reminded me of Weill.
The second movement projects a long
lyrical melody for the violins over
a ticking ostinato reminiscent of Haydn’s
Clock. The capricious clarinet
in the finale recalls the wild flights
of that instrument in the Nielsen Clarinet
Concerto and of the flute in the Nielsen
Flute Concerto. The knockabout trumpet
line will remind most listeners of the
Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1. The
sound from this disc is staggering,
I must say; listen to the percussion
in the finale. And I was listening to
the orthodox CD track not the SACD multi-channel.
The Danse de la
peur pre-dates Le Vin Herbé
and is all that survives of a ballet
project for Zurich Ballet. It was premiered
in Geneva on 28 June 1944 with Madeleine
and Dinu Lipatti who had just arrived
as exiles from Romania. It is a sombre
work, not without dynamism, predictably
glum, with some 12-tone flavour fresh
from Martin’s studies with Schoenberg.
The two pianos clamour in jazzy protest
and the bass-emphatic percussion thud,
grunt and grumble. It’s fascinating
and subdued - proclaiming the composer
as a confidently awkward Old Testament
cuss even at the age of 46. There is
plenty of ruthless syncopated work for
the two pianos played here with snarl
and ‘rock and roll’ thunder. No jokes
and no smiles in this piece - just concentrated
foreboding. Vaughan Williams rejected
war-visionary status for his Fourth
Symphony. Would Martin have taken the
same line with this work written during
the second half of the 1930s? It’s all
a little like Liszt’s Totentanz.
This is not its first recording. It
was included on Sebastian Benda’s ASV
CD of the Martin complete music for
piano and orchestra (CD
DCA 1082). There the other pianist
there was Paul Badura-Skoda.
The ASV interpretation does not have
quite the ruthless cut and thrust that
stalks and blasts its way through MDG’s
recording.
As usual with MDG the
booklet is a model of clarity in what
it says and in its layout and typography.
Three concentrated
works: an aptly unsmiling and mercilessly
serious Danse de la peur, a cool
yet clear Concerto for seven wind instruments
and from Erxleben a Violin Concerto
that manages to be both intensely lyrical
and objective.
Rob Barnett
Michael Erxleben (violin), Adrienne Soos and Ivo
Haag (piano duo) 
