The young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra released three remarkable discs of Swiss modernist music in 2007. First came Othmar Schoeck's concerto and sonata for cello plus four song transcriptions for cello and piano. Then came Arthur Honegger's concerto and sonata for cello plus two sonatines. And last there was this one, Frank Martin's concerto and ballade for cello and 8 Preludes for orchestra. All three were released on the Swedish BIS label and featured Finnish conductor Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen leading the Swedish ...
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The young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra released three remarkable discs of Swiss modernist music in 2007. First came Othmar Schoeck's concerto and sonata for cello plus four song transcriptions for cello and piano. Then came Arthur Honegger's concerto and sonata for cello plus two sonatines. And last there was this one, Frank Martin's concerto and ballade for cello and 8 Preludes for orchestra. All three were released on the Swedish BIS label and featured Finnish conductor Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen leading the Swedish Malmö Symphony Orchestra in the concertos, English pianist Kathryn Stott in the sonatas and transcriptions, and German violinist Christian Tetzlaff in Honegger's sonatine for violin in cello.As it turns out, Poltéra may have saved the best for last. Compared with Schoeck's nostalgic romanticism and Honegger's saucy eclecticism, Martin's austere modernism comes off as deeper and more thoughtful. Too many times in the past, Martin's music has received performances that seem gray and...
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