Igor Markevitch - Complete Orchestral Works Vols.3 and 4

 

Igor MARKEVITCH (1912 – 1983)

Complete Orchestral Works - Volume 3

Cantique d’Amour (1936) 

L’envol d’Icare (1933) 

Concerto Grosso (1930) 

Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Lyndon–Gee

rec. 7 December 1995 (Cantique), 5-6 December 1995 (d’Icare) and 10-11 June 1996 (Concerto Grosso). DDD

Re–issue of Marco Polo 8.223666

Complete Orchestral Works: Vol.4

Rébus (1931) 

Hymnes (1932) / Hymne à la Mort (1936) 

Arnhem Symphony Orchestra

Christopher Lyndon-Gee

rec. 1 March 1996 and 15 June 1996, Musis Sacrum, Arnhem, The Netherlands. DDD

re-issue of Marco Polo 8.223724

Complete Orchestral Works Vol.3

 Remembered as a conductor of highly specialised tastes, Igor Markevitch started his musical career as pianist and composer. He was “discovered” by Diaghilev who commissioned, in 1929, a Piano Concerto, which Markevitch performed at Covent Garden. By the age of 20 he as regarded as a major figure in the world of contemporary composition, but in 1933 he conducted his Ballet Suite, Rebus with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. This occasioned a change in the direction of his life. He ceased composing in 1942, after suffering a serious illness and making the decision to become a conductor. He took lessons from Pierre Monteux and the rest, as they say, is history. As a composer he was known as “The Second Igor”, the first being Stravinsky, and it is said that after hearing a performance of L'Envol d'Icare – in the 1933 arrangement for two pianos and three percussionists of his 1932 ballet Icare – Bartók took the inspiration to write his Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion. Indeed, Bartók wrote to Markevitch, stating, "You are the most striking personality in contemporary music, and I am happy to thank you for the influence you have had on me." His son, Oleg Caetani, with his second wife Donna Topazia Caetani, is currently chief conductor and artistic director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

 

It is only in the past fifteen or twenty years that Markevitch’s work as a composer has started being re-evaluated. One can see why he was so highly prized at the time he was composing. L’envol d’Icare, with its imaginative orchestral writing, very colourful palette of sound and wealth of memorable themes is a work one wants to hear again and again. This is an endlessly fascinating piece. Lyndon–Gee, who has done more than anyone to put Markevitch’s music back into circulation, has recorded seven CDs of Markevitch’s orchestral music. These are performances which are very good indeed. The present performance is very good, especially as the musicians cannot have known the music before the recording took place. If you really want to hear this music in an electrifying reading you must investigate the 1958 recording of Icare (the revised version) by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic (as part of a 10 disk set of live performances on the Philharmonic’s own label – available by mail order from the New York Philharmonic’s website). This latter was given in the presence of the composer. The Bernstein performance is exactly what this music requires.

 

The other two works on the disk are of lesser value and importance, but are no less enjoyable. Cantique d’Amour is a richly-layered piece, full of eastern promise and as erotic as you could wish. The Concerto Grosso is obviously neo-classical fun, and it shows much less of the composer than do the other two works.

 

Whether or not you have the Bernstein recording of Icare this disk is essential, as are the others in the series, for allowing us to get to know a major composer of the early part of the last century. Very good, clear, recording and excellent notes.

 

Bob Briggs

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Complete Orchestral Works Vol.4

Although commissioned, and written as such, as a ballet, Rébus never seems to have been danced! It doesn’t matter for it makes a splendid six movement orchestral suite. Because of the ballet element there is, perhaps, more thematic interweaving than one might normally get in an orchestral suite, but this only aids the listener when listening to it for the first time. It’s a more difficult piece than L’envol d’Icare, which was written two years later, but here the composer is coming to terms with a neo-classical style, which, perhaps, doesn’t sit too comfortably on his young shoulders. That said, it’s a fine piece of work, with each movement clearly and distinctly characterised with spiky orchestration and a sense of fun. It might be that there is just a little too much insistence on repetitive rhythms - the final Parade is almost too much to bear in its continued sameness, but as he had dance in mind when composing there is probably a really good reason for this.

 

The Hymnes consist of a Prelude and three Hymns with the Hymne à la Mort added later, and being a version of the last of the Trois Poèmes for voice and piano of 1935. According to the notes, as late as 1980 Markevitch was making small changes to the score - surely this proves that he never lost sight of his musical roots as a composer. This performance uses the original score as Lyndon-Gee sees the later edition as “… crude, and by no means tonally more effective than the original.” This is a much more serious work than Rébus, and it’s hard to believe that it was written only a year later, so great is the assurance of the composer in his use of material and of the orchestra, when compared to the earlier piece. The second Hymn is especially elegant, starting as a clarinet solo, over sustained strings, and developing into a duet with flute. This is quite beautiful. The following movement is full of rhythmic interplay, and it’s very exciting and freely tonal, but Markevitch spoils what he has written by putting two loud common chords at the end, which are totally out of place with the rest of the music. The final Hymne à la Mort is very slow and packed with atmosphere, the music quietly making its weary way to its conclusion, ending with the stroke of a bell.

Bob Briggs