Igor Markevitch - Complete Orchestral Works Vols.1 and 2

 

Igor MARKEVITCH (1912-1983)

Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

Partita

Le Paradis Perdu (Oratorio)

Sarah Walker, Martijn van den Hoek, Lucy Shelton, Jon Garrison

Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Lyndon-Gee

Complete Orchestral Works Vol.2

Le Nouvel Âge (1937)

Sinfonietta in F (1929)

Cinéma-Ouverture (1931)

Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Lyndon-Gee

Complete Orchestral Works, Vol. 1

Marco Polo released seven volumes in their series of orchestral works by Igor Markevitch, and these are currently being re-released on Naxos. The first volume in the Naxos series, however, contains the two works that got away from the original Marco Polo cycle, and this disc is as such essential to anyone who followed the original series. Now, Igor Markevitch's fame is still due to his work as a conductor - indeed as one of the most remarkable conductors in the twentieth century. But these releases of his orchestral music, should - if there is any justice - fill out that picture significantly. Indeed, I don't think I am exaggerating when claiming that this series reveals him as one of the most remarkable composers of the twentieth century as well. Markevitch is not merely a conductor who also composed (in the derivative but usually well-crafted manner typical of most conductor-composers); Markevitch's music is highly original, spectacularly enjoyable, and always fresh and bold. Indeed, Markevitch is perhaps the most convincing representative of Russian futurism (Prokofiev's forays into the genre perhaps excepted); even so, I readily admit that the stylistic range is rather limited, and one can perhaps understand why he gave up composing so early instead of continuing to write the same pieces over and over (despite admiration from the likes of Britten, Stravinsky, Milhaud and Bartok). Still, we should be truly grateful for having this remarkable body of music, and also be grateful to the Arnhem Philharmonic, Christopher Lyndon-Gee and Marco Polo/Naxos for making it available in more than acceptable - often superb - performances. 

The partita for piano and orchestra was recorded at the same time the rest of the series was recorded, but the oratorio Le Paradis Perdu was recorded at a somewhat later time. The Partita dates from 1931 and was Markevitch's second concertante work for piano and orchestra. It is a tautly argued work, often neo-classical in feel, superbly scored and full of remarkable colors, textures and rhythmic figurations. The opening Ouverture is a propulsive, impulsive movement, full of unbridled energy and generally divertive character. The more substantial Choral movement is pensive and personal but somewhat meandering, while the final Rondo seems to take its cue from the first movement and is a buoyant and energetic movement. It is a rather remarkable work, somewhat reminiscent of Stravinsky but already thoroughly personal. 

The oratorio Le Paradis Perdu (Paradise Lost - but it is relatively far away from Milton's work) for soprano, mezzo, tenor, chorus and orchestra is (at least close to) a masterpiece, however. It is an ambitious work in two parts deploying a wide range of techniques and displaying a wide range of imagination. The first part opens with a solo for Eve, the soprano, set against a gradually swelling ostinati backdrop (and some brief climactic outbursts), that leads to a longer, and excellent, somewhat primal sounding choral part depicting the birth of man. The sky darkens with the entrance of Satan, and the music becomes darkly troubled and conflict-filled (some excellent choral writing again) and the section ends with a conflict between Satan and Life. The second part concerns redemption and is a thoroughly imaginative, inventive section working its way to a glorious culmination. 

It is a spectacular work that demands to be heard by anyone remotely interested in twentieth century music. It is, perhaps, not without its faults, and the orchestral writing is certainly more impressive than the writing for the soloists, but it is certainly not far away from being a towering masterpiece (perhaps somewhat reminiscent of Honegger's oratorios). The performances are excellent, and the Arnhem Philharmonic continues to impress as they have throughout the series. The chorus and soloists are good as well, but unfortunately placed a little too far back in the sound picture (Martijn van den Hoek's piano in the Partita is far better balanced) - indeed, the sound is not really top-notch, being at times a littly blurry as well. In short, while there are admittedly a couple of caveats, the release is overall a well neigh essential acquisition. Truly impressive.

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Complete Orchestral Works Vol.2

At the age of 16, Igor Markevitch played his compositions for Diaghilev and became the impresario's next musical sensation. He vaulted in a single bound to the forefront of Parisian artistic circles. Milhaud wrote appreciations of his scores, and eventually Igor Stravinsky himself, notoriously prickly toward other composers (particularly toward potential rivals), gave his approval. However, by 29, Markevitch had given up composition in favor of conducting, despite having earned an extremely high reputation. Nadia Boulanger, Athena to Modern composers and his teacher, lamented his decision. The three scores on the program argue for Markevitch's importance as an interwar composer.

In four movements, the Sinfonietta, the finale of which Markevitch played for Diaghilev, announced a new kid in town, from the fanfares of the very first movement. The music shows affinities with Milhaud in its fondness not only for polytonality, but for polyrhythms. Yet it never merely imitates. Markevitch is attracted to ostinatos and to melodies that sneak back upon themselves. The second movement sandwiches a forlorn minuet between an allegro that sounds a bit like Kurt Weill. To me, the minuet represents Markevitch at his most characteristic – repetition in the service of ritualism. The following slow movement takes a theme reminiscent of Russian Orthodox chant. One also hears a hollow sparseness in the orchestration, another device that became characteristic. The finale appropriates jazz-like phrasing mainly through the use of both ostinato of three pulses against four pulses as well as of the break up of a 4/4 measure into two beats of 3/8 followed by a 2/8. There's a probably unconscious nod to Stravinsky's Firebird and to The Rite of Spring when the music's small notes gather into broad tunes – both scores, despite their age, still influential among composers in Twenties Paris. The piece overall comes across like the work of a very smart kid having the time of his life showing off.

Markevitch originally intended the Cinéma-Ouverture, according to the liner notes, as part of a score for a dance film by Leonid Massine on Strauss's "Blue Danube" Waltz. The rest of the music was to be Markevitch's arrangement of Strauss, but the film never got made. The arrangement never got written. Lyndon-Gee's liner notes claim that parts of the "Blue Danube" became thematic material for the overture, but damned if I can hear any of it, despite a brief passage in waltz time. The overture begins with a quick, machine-like march. Stravinsky peeks in with Markevitch's inclusion of a cimbalom, also featured prominently in Renard. Markevitch also bows to Satie's Parade, with intrusions of sirens, buzzers, car horns, and slide whistles. For me, what stand out are the insistence on the rhythmic independence of each voice and the thrusting of rough, short ostinato into the foreground, almost as a melodic element.

Le Nouvel Âge appeared in 1937 and thus counts as a late work. It was to have been an oratorio, with a libretto by poet Edward James – a counterpart to Markevitch's Le Paradis perdu. However, the two fell out over James's affair with Markevitch's wife, and the libretto was never realized. Markevitch decided to turn the work into a tone poem on his own libretto. However, the composer had a fatal attraction for theosophic poetic blather and came up with an embarrassing, nonsensical scenario. Fortunately, it didn't damage the score, widely considered one of his masterpieces, and so the music appears to advantage in a purely orchestral concert setting. We needn't bother with the plot. The score has three movements: "Ouverture," "Adagio," and "Hymne." After a brief, quiet opening of strings in octaves, the orchestra erupts with a hymn to the Machine Age, a genre popular in the Twenties, with works like Honegger's Pacific 231, Antheil's Ballet Mécanique, Prokofieff's Le pas d'acier, and Mosolov's Iron Foundry. The mechanistic riffs – thuds from the bass drum, the snares' taradiddles, the blaring brass – of the Sinfonietta and the Cinéma-Ouverture achieve their greatest expressive power in a Markevitch score. For me, the Adagio counts as the most extraordinary movement, achieving an intense, hypnotic near-glacial movement. The "Hymne" begins as another paean to the Jazz Age but slows to the music of the Adagio. The trumpets and percussion at high blast burst in again, and after a passage of many competing rhythms, the piece ends on a blaring "jazz" seventh.

This entry stands among the strongest of Naxos's seven-volume Markevitch series. As always, Lyndon-Gee and the Arnhemers play with dedication and spirit.

Steve Schwartz.