Johanna Martzy (violin) and Michael Mann (viola)
Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings
Antonín DVORÁK (1841-1904)
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op.53 B108 (1880 rev 1882) [32:19]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto No.4 in D, K218 (1775) [23:28]
Violin Sonata in F, K.376 (1781) [16:19]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30/3 (1803) [17:11]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré (1922) [2:33]
Pičce en forme de Habanera (1908) [2:35]
Darius MILHAUD (1892-1974)
Saudades de Brazil: Ipanema Op.67 (1920) [2:06]
Manuel de FALLA (1876-1946)
La vida breve; Danse espagnole arr Fritz Kreisler [3:24]
Karol SZYMANOWSKI (1882-1937)
Nocturne and Tarantelle, Op.28 (1915) [10:36]
Ernst KRENEK (1900-1991)
Viola Sonata (1948) [9:14]
Arthur HONEGGER (1892-1955)
Viola Sonata (1920) [15:16]
Darius MILHAUD (1892-1974)
Quatre visages (1942-43) [9:54]
Jean Antonietti (piano: Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, Milhaud, Falla, Szymanowski)
Yaltah Menuhin (piano: Krenek); Dika Newlin (piano: Honegger, Milhaud)
Symphony Orchestra of RIAS, Berlin/Ferenc Fricsay (Dvořák)
Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra/Eugen Jochum (Mozart)
rec. 1951-53
ELOQUENCE 484 3299 [72:11 + 74:09]
Johanna Martzy was for many years a kind of connoisseur’s violinist whose relatively small body of recordings earned both renown and cachet. Sales of many of her rare LPs remain high and a boutique label, Coup d’archet, dedicated to reissues and to producing its own LPs, as well as a promised biography that I don’t think has yet appeared, served both to tantalise and to frustrate, so forbiddingly high were the prices involved.
I’ve reviewed all these recordings in other incarnations over the years so will send you there for some ideas as to the performances and some brief biographical details for those as yet unaware of her art; see, for example, the Mozart Concerto and Beethoven Sonata (review) and the Dvořák Concerto and smaller pieces (review). What remains to be noted is that I much prefer these Eloquence transfers which were carried out by Chris Bernauer, who always does a fine job for the label. They are much more detailed and refined than the competitor versions noted above, possess much more clarity and colour and utterly lack that slightly muddy spread that can afflict those other versions. As well as top notch transfers we get Tully Potter’s equally high-class booklet notes and some fine cover art and LP sleeve reproductions.
The second half of the twofer is given over to a small series of recordings made by Michael Mann which was originally coupled on the same DG LP that housed Martzy’s short pieces in the second disc of this Eloquence twofer. Mann was Thomas Mann’s youngest child, born in 1919. He took some violin lessons at the Zurich Conservatory before he and the Mann family left Europe for America in 1939. Mann played viola in the San Francisco Symphony, then gave solo recitals, often accompanied by Yaltah Menuhin, who accompanies on one of the three pieces in this DG set, but had to give up playing because of a medical condition. He died in 1977.
Krenek’s Viola Sonata was dedicated to Ferenc Molnar and Jane Hohfield and their 1949 premičre performance in San Francisco was soon followed by the duo giving the work’s premiere recording on the Music Library label. This taut, tight three movement sonata is well served by Mann whose somewhat dry tone approximates the music’s aesthetic. Yaltah Menuhin accompanies deftly. Honegger’s sonata is much earlier and written for Henri Casadesus (of Baroque ‘fakery’ fame). It has a particularly haunting Andante introduction and a vivid finale, which is not quite put across with sufficient verve by Mann. Milhaud’s Quatre visages is a familiar, sunny Milhaud piece with its brief characterisations – vif et gai for the main part. Dika Newlin accompanies in these last two works.
With sparkling new transfers this is the place to go for these Martzy performances and in doing so you’ll acquire the contemporaneous DG Mann viola recording.
Jonathan Woolf
