Concerto pour violon et orchestre

Concerto pour violon et orchestre
Concerto for violin and orchestra

Year of composition

1950-1951

Duration

30'

Scored for

Violin and orchestra: 2 2 2 2 - 2 2 1 0 - timp. - harp - piano - strings
I. Allegro tranquillo II. Andante molto moderato III. Presto

Publication information

Universal Edition: score and piano reduction (UE11676/UE11678); study score available at Musikproduktion Hoeflich (mph no.461)

Commentary

Concerto for violin and orchestra
It was at the request of the Pro Helvetia Foundation that I wrote this concerto, from 1950 to 1951, dedicated to Paul Sacher and his Basler Kammerorchester, and I am happy and proud of the idea that it will be first performed during the concert that this ensemble and chef will give to celebrate in glory their 25 years of fruitful collaboration. I would be remiss if I did not offer them here my profound gratitude, which is also that of countless composers, for the way in which they have promoted so many contemporary works and often given their premieres, for their revival of many excellent works of the past, abandoned by the large concert associations.
 I would gladly continue to say more about the merits of the Basler Kammerorchester and its conductor rather than talk about this concerto now. The truth is, there is not much more to say about this piece other than what its title designates. Indeed, I have tried as well as possible to write a true concerto, in three distinct parts – Allegro - Andante - Presto – which is a symphonic pattern, but led and steered by a solo instrument and which also serves to highlight the qualities peculiar to this instrument and its player. This is nothing very new, of course, but the fact remains that these requirements seem sometimes contradictory to the composer. If I use here the traditional form of the concerto, it is not due to a meaningless concern about some kind of neoclassicism. It is simply because I wanted to write a fairly widely developed work (about half an hour of music), and I quickly realized that the classical form of the concerto corresponds to certain elements of the genre; for example, that it requires tutti, face to face with the solo parts, so that the orchestra can at times deploy its power and assert the re-entry of the soloist. Likewise, the disposition of the three movements is not arbitrary, nor linking the second and third movements which prevailed against my original will.
 Immediately after the composition of Five Songs of Ariel (for a cappella mixed choir after Shakespeare’s The Tempest), I started the Violin Concerto, which has kept the mysterious and somewhat magical atmosphere of the songs, especially at the beginning; it even borrowed a motif from them, introduced by the horns in the sixteenth bar. Other elements intervene, more lyrical, even with pathos, but the character of Ariel always reappears, distantly mysterious at the end of the first movement and at the violin’s entrance in the second, or lively and whimsical as at the beginning of the Finale. Yet there is nothing deliberate there: I simply remained a little bewitched by the charms of Prospero’s Island.

Text by Frank Martin from A propos de… commentaires de Frank Martin sur ses œuvres (Neuchâtel, 1984) | English translation by Rachel Ann Morgan
(Published in Mitteilungen Basler Kammerorchester No 43, 19 January 1952. Alte und neue Musik II, Atlantis Verlag Zürich 1977, pp. 256-257.

Premiere

World première: Basle, 24 January 1952. Hansheinz Schneeberger, violin; Paul Sacher, conductor

Recordings (selective list)

  • Svetlin Roussev, violin
    L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève
    Arie van Beek, conductor
    Claves Records ℗ + © 2021 (FMS239)

  • ‘Frank Martin interprète Frank Martin’
    Wolfgang Schneiderhan, violin
    Orchestre Symphonique de la Radio Luxembourg
    Frank Martin, conductor
    Jecklin-Disco JD 632-2 ℗ + © 1989 (FMS020)

  • Baiba Skride, violin
    BBC National Orchestra of Wales
    Thierry Fischer, conductor
    ORFEO C 849 121 A ℗ + © 2012 (FMS204)

  • Michael Erxleben, violin
    Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur
    Jac van Steen, conductor
    Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm ℗ + © 2004

  • Wolfgang Schneiderhan, violin
    L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
    Ernest Ansermet, conductor
    DECCA PY 925 ℗ 1955 © 1996 (FMS074)

  • Paul Kling, violin
    The Louisville Orchestra
    Robert Whitney, conductor
    First Edition Music FECD-0020 ℗ + © 2003 (FMS035)

  • ‘Legendary conductors’
    Joseph Szigeti, violin
    New York Philharmonic Orchestra
    Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor
    (Live recording 16-11-1952)
    Asdisc AS 626 ℗ 1991 (FMS100)

  • Stuart Canin, violin
    Berkeley Symphonic Orchestra
    Stuart Canin, conductor
    New Albion Records NA086CD ℗ + © 1996 (FMS128)

  • Piotr Milewski, violin
    Bieler Symphonieorchester
    Grzegorz Nowak, conductor
    GALLO CD-582 ℗ + © 1991 (FMS164)

  • Dene Olding, violin
    Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
    Hiroyuki Iwaki, conductor
    ABC Classics 8.77000 4 ℗ 1990 + © 1991 (FMS199)

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