Martin: Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann; Drey Minnelieder; Trois chants de Noël; Poèmes de la mort

COMPOSERS: Martin
LABELS: Cantate
WORKS: Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann; Drey Minnelieder; Trois chants de Noël; Poèmes de la mort
PERFORMER: Susanne Thomas-Martin (soprano), Volker Arendts (baritone), Wolfram Schild (bass), Christian Mücke (tenor), Miroslav Kroupa (piano), Hugo Germán Gaido, Andreas Berg (electric guitar), Gerhard Koch (electric bass)/Wolfgang Weigel
CATALOGUE NO: C 58013

The Six Everyman Monologues strike me as not only one of Frank Martin’s finest works but arguably the greatest song cycle since Mahler. On every hearing it grows in stature, though it is most often encountered in its orchestral form rather than in the more monochrome version for voice and piano. The present account comes from a 1998 broadcast from Sender Freies Berlin and is a well-prepared, intelligent reading though not, perhaps, as persuasive and searching an entry-point into Martin’s world as rival accounts by José van Dam (Virgin) and Fischer-Dieskau (Orfeo). The post-war Trois chants de Noël for soprano, flute and piano have a great deal of charm, though the Drey Minnelider, written in the early Sixties in the wake of the Mystère de la Nativité, have the greater depth. The Poèmes de la mort are late works of much substance and not otherwise available. They are scored for the unusual combination of three male singers and three electric guitars, the latter used in a very original way and producing a highly distinctive sonority. It should be noted that the disc offers distinctly short measure. Robert Layton