Frank Martin: Requiem. Elisabeth Speiser, Ria Bollen, Eric Tappy, Peter Lagger, André Luy (organ), Union Chorale et choeur de dames de Lausanne, Groupe vocal “Ars Laeta”, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Martin. Jecklin-Disco JD 631-2 (1989) no barcode, then 742395163112
Premiere performance, live, May 4, 1973, recorded in the Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland
Despite the disc’s short timing, the version of reference, of course, of a masterpiece by Frank Martin
8 Auugust 2024
It is my comparative survey of Arthur Honegger’s La Danse des Morts that sent me back to this CD, documenting the premiere performance of Frank Martin’s Requiem, given in the Lausanne Cathedral on May 4, 1973 and reissued to CD in 1989. One unexpected recording of La Danse des Morts from Hamburg, Germany, on Troubadisc TRO-CD 01411 (link will open new tab to my review), published in 2012 and documenting a live performance from November 2010, had Martin’s Requiem as disc-mate.
Martin’s Requiem appears to be far less popular on disc than the composer’s Mass for Double Choir. For decades, Martin’s Jecklin recording was the only option – and who needed more, since it had the composer’s full imprimatur? But of late new recordings seem to be trickling through. Other than this one, I’ve spotted one from 2001 on the label Musiques Suisses, MGB 6183 barcode 7617028759358, and one published in 2022 but documenting a live performance given by Leif Segerstam with the Vienna Radio in 1979 (with the same contralto, Ria Bollen, as on Martin’s Premiere performance), on Capriccio C5464 barcode 845221054544.
Yet the Requiem is a powerful work, alternating between the brooding and introspective (Introitus, Agnus Dei, unfolding moods that echo Fauré’s and Duruflé’s Requiems) and the immensely powerful (Kyrie, Dies Irae, Sanctus), even violent, as in the Tuba mirum section in the Dies Irae movement. It is also a very lyrical work – not Puccini-lyrical mind you, but the four valiant soloists have beautiful, if anguished and tortured, melismata to unfold. Chorus and organ in their highest register for the bursting out of light on the final Lux Aeterna is a marvelous invention. It may not be for all audiences, but Martin’s Requiem is a masterpiece, deserving of multiple recordings.
Martin was, stylistically, an independent, developing his own brand of modernism away from the dictates and stricutres of the serial avant-garde of his time. Although born in 1890 and having started composing between both World Wars, Martin’s music (at least his more mature works) is definitely steeped in the century’s second half – while I’d argue that the music of his (incredibly) younger-by-two-years Swiss peer Arthur Honegger is anchored in the first-half of the century (“incredibly” because, before I checked, I would of sworn Honegger was older by at least ten years…). Honegger died in 1955 and Martin in November 1974, shortly after the composition and premiere of the Requiem, which turned out then to be a very fitting valedictory work. His ultimate composition though was the Cantata for alto and baritone Et la vie l’emporta, which can be construed as meaning both And life took him/her away or And life ultimately prevailed.
But, to ears trained to contemporary music, Martin’s music is very approachable. Martin was an independent in the same manner as, say, Henri Dutilleux: not serialist avant-garde, not neo-romantic backward-looking either, but following a modernism of his own. Stylistic parallels may also be drawn with Britten and Tippett (and biographical ones too: Tippett, whose stylistic outlook is more modern than Britten’s, was actually older than Britten, but he was, as Martin vs Honegger, a late developer). But at the beginning of the Dies Irae, with its snarling brass, it is Pacific 231, Honegger’s famous tone poem, that fleetingly comes to mind.
Merits are equally shared between Martin’s authoritative performance and the one on Troubadisc, by Hamburg forces under (hitherto unknown to me) Matthias Hoffmann-Borggrefe. On the one hand, whatever the merits of Troubadisc’s tenor Michael Connaire, there is more touching nobility in the Introitus with Martin’s Eric Tappy, more beauty of tone in the fortes of the ensuing Kyrie. Other than that, I find little to prefer in either cast of soloists. Martin’s bass, Peter Lagger, is formidably powerful, but Troubadic’s Stefan Adam is no slouch either. As for the ladies, I can’t give any preference – the two contraltos sound indeed very similar in timbre. Martin’s soprano Elisabeth Speiser is lighter and more “angelic”, Katherina Müller has a plumber and more operatic soprano voice, and I like both. In the Agnus Dei movement, a duet for contralto and organ, the oboe register of Martin’s Lausanne organ is more ingratiating than Troubadisc’s Hamburg organ with its pinched and twangy color.
Both conductors do a great job with chorus and orchestra, in an approach that is often strikingly similar, especially in the Dies Irae (the longest movement, alternating solos – not for the soprano however – and choral). In the Kyrie I find Hoffmann-Borggrefe’s greater urgency preferable, and his chorus there develops to even greater power than Martin’s – but then, he shows less urgency than Martin in the Sanctus. His whispered “dies irae dies illa solvet saeclum in favilla” at the beginning of the Dies Irae section is also a very nice touch, but the ensuing outburst of sonic power on “quantus tremor est futurus” is more powerful under Martin. Sonics afford more transparency (thanks to less background ambience noise) to Troubadisc’s Hamburg chorus, especially noticeable in the Pie Jesus at the end of the Dies Irae, track 3 at 13:30.
But ultimately, those are mere details. There may be such details that are preferable in one or the other recording, but suffice to say that Hoffmann-Borggrefe’s intrepretation is excellent and worthy of the composer’s. And of course, the Troubadisc disc has, over Jecklin and its paltry 45 minutes of music (plus 1 and ½ of applause), the advantage of a substantial filler – even if, ultimately, Hoffmann-Borggrefe’s reading of Honegger’s La Danse des Morts is marred by an inadequate narrator.
With the Troubadisc recording, I’ve made an exception to my rule of commenting only CDs that I have in my possession, and listened online, so I can’t comment on the liner notes, and I don’t know if they provide the (much-needed) texts and translations. Jecklin’s edition comes with texts and translations of the Requiem – they remain very useful because, as familiar as we may be with the Latin text of the Requiem, it is always a good thing to refresh your memory about what the words mean exactly.
Of course, Martin’s Premiere performance will always remain the version of reference. For the rest, potential buyer needs to arbitrate between price and timing. I’ve just ordered the competing version on Musiques Suisses – despite, again, no filler and short timing – so I am likely to complete this review in a short while.