Ballade pour piano et orchestre

Ballade pour piano et orchestre
Ballade for piano and orchestra

Year of composition

1939

Duration

16'

Scored for

piano and orchestra: 2 2 2 2 - 2 2 3 0 - timp. - perc.(2) - harp - strings

Publication information

Universal Edition (UE11556)

Commentary

Ballade for piano and orchestra
A large part of the Ballade pour piano et orchestra was written during the summer of 1939 at l’île d’Oléron; together with the Sonata da chiesa pour viole d’amour et orgue and the Ballades for flute and for trombone, it was composed between the first and the two other parts of Le Vin herbé. It is part of a kind of cycle of Ballads for various solo instruments: saxophone, flute, piano, trombone.
 These pieces have one thing in common: that is to say that they are more epic than lyrical, being more of a narrative than a confessional, the lyrical expression being generally episodic and descriptive rather than expansive.
 A short formal analysis could perhaps help the listener to follow the Ballade pour piano with more ease, at least prevent his hoping for the end before it is due.
 At the beginning, the piano announces a long, expressive phrase in four stages, at first almost alone, then supported more and more by the orchestra. A lively movement springs forth from the big chords which end the phrase, in which the piano has fluttering arabesques above the orchestra.
 After a rather short and violent tutti, the piano enters again and uses the triple time of this Vivace to create a waltz which end abruptly in an outburst. Then, with a rhythmical murmuring in the piano, the oboe picks up the slow phrase of the beginning which is repeated in its entirety, now by the orchestra, now by the soloist, at first embellished by light, rhythmical movements, then by dialogue between the piano and woodwind, and finally by an ostinato rhythm introduced by the timpani.
 This gloomy rhythm gradually perpetrates the whole orchestra and leads to a slow march in triple time; this sort of funeral march develops into violent dissent between the piano and the orchestra and terminates in the cadenza. Here the soloist hints briefly at the opening melody, then suddenly returns with a light touch to his fluttering arabesques. The orchestra’s entry leads to a short conclusion.
 If I have spoken about a narrative style, it should not be seen, however, as a sort of symphonic poem: no literary theme has guided the composition of this Ballade; and if it describes and relates anything, it is not landscape or musical events. Furthermore, everyone is free to see in it whatever he wishes.

Text by Frank Martin from A propos de… commentaires de Frank Martin sur ses œuvres (Neuchâtel, 1984) | English translation by Rachel Ann Morgan

Premiere

World première: Zürich, 1 February 1944. Walter Frey, piano; Ernest Ansermet, conductor

Recordings (selective list)

  • ‘Frank Martin dirige Frank Martin’
    Sebastian Benda, piano
    Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
    Frank Martin, conductor
    Jecklin-Disco JD 529-2 ℗ + © 1989 (FMS021)

  • Ronald Brautigam, piano
    Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest
    Riccardo Chailly, conductor
    Decca Music Group ℗ + © 2015

  • ‘Frank Martin - Ballades’
    Roderick Zelms, piano
    London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Matthias Bamert, conductor
    CHANDOS CHAN 9380 ℗ + © 1995 (FMS114)

  • ‘SOZ Live’
    Michiko Tsuda, piano
    Symphonisches Orchester Zürich
    Daniel Schweizer, conductor
    Jecklin szene sCHweiz JS 285-2 ℗ + © 1991 (FMS042)

  • ‘Complete Music for Piano & Orchestra’
    Sebastian Benda, piano
    Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
    Christian Benda, conductor
    ASV CD DCA1082 ℗ 1999 (FMS181)

  • Jean-François Antonioli, piano
    I Filharmonici di Torino
    Marcello Viotti, conductor
    CLAVES CD 50-8509 ℗ 1986 (FMS183)

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