Scintillating teamwork from Martin doubles
Two sibling teams reveal the greatness of the Czech composer’s double concertos to David Nice
Martin Concerto in D for Two Violins and Orchestra; Rhapsody-concerto for Viola and Orchestra; Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Deborah Nemtanu, Sarah Nemtanu (violin), Magali Demesse (viola), Momo Kodama, Mari Kodama (piano); Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra/lawrence Foster Pentatone PTC 5186 658 (hybrid CD/SACD) 62:52 mins
With releases of the great Czech composer Martin ’s music now proliferating, we stand a better chance of assessing the true masterpieces in his prolific and always lively output. The biggest challenge here is the Concerto for Two Pianos of 1943, a desolate year in Martin ’s American exile which also produced the powerful Third Symphony. Its status was apparent a few years back when performed at a BBC Prom by a Czech duo and Ji í B lohlávek conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Here, the Kodama sisters’ approach with Lawrence Foster and the very fine Marseille Philharmonic Orchestra (who knew?) is less mellow, more hard-hitting – essential in the powerful and unpredictable Adagio, the dark heart of the whole disc – but also alive to the magical fluidity of the dizzying outer movements. The ‘emotional and rational strength’ the Kodamas write about in the booklet note, the intuition necessary, are perfectly realised.
Similar sleight of hand is on display from the Nemtanu siblings in the Concerto for Two Violins, dazzling in the cadenza which comes as something of a surprise after the relatively congenial bubblings of the Concerto’s earlier pages. Its darkness and light are more evenly distributed than in the latest work on the disc, the Rhapsody-concerto for Viola of 1952, the latter work’s first movement bright and bucolic, second far more ambiguous, but with a wonderful homage to Dvo ák’s Cello Concerto as its homecoming. Magali Demesse is a less imposing figure than Maxim Rysanov on the recording of choice, but her complicity with the orchestra is always apparent, and the disc as a whole is another unmissable addition to the Martin discography. PERFORMANCE ★★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★
Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
The Kodamas find Martin ’s ‘emotional and rational strength’