Igor Stravinsky; Frank Martin - Violin Concertos (Baiba Skride)

Information

Composer: Igor Stravinsky; Frank Martin

• (01) Stravinsky - Violin Concerto in D major
• (05) Honegger - Pacific 231
• (06) Honegger - Rugby
• (07) Martin - Violin Concerto
• (10) Stravinsky - Circus Polka

Baiba Skride, violin
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thierry Fischer, conductor

Date: 2012
Label: Orfeo International
https://www.orfeo-international.de/pages/cd_c849121a_e.html

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Review

Two concertos and two ballets from Fischer and BBC NOW

Quite an ear-opener. The Stravinsky Violin Concerto is little short of a revelation, lean and keen, with the kind of inner clarity that you never get with this degree of immediacy from an average seat in the concert hall. The consequence of this is a heightening of the work’s harmonic daring and wit. Baiba Skride has the measure of its hybrid nature, striking an ideal balance between its Classical/Baroque cut and thrust and its Romantic inclinations. ‘Aria II’ is very beautiful indeed, its melodic embellishments tripping off the bow with harmonic support in the orchestral strings that is more sensitively heard and more ‘aware’ than I have experienced in any recording of the piece. But then it’s the interplay of voices that consistently springs surprises. All credit to Thierry Fischer, producer Andrew Keener and, of course, the big-personality wind soloists of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Credit, too, for whoever came up with the idea of coupling the little-heard Frank Martin Concerto. With that we are removed to another world, mysterious and fantastical, which Martin tells us is inspired by Prospero’s island from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Ariel rules here at Prospero’s bidding and Skride is an ethereal presence throughout, weaving her spells through the subtlest Ravelian textures and achieving one moment of breathtaking stasis at the close of the slow movement where Prospero’s – or should that be Martin’s – magic achieves a sombre grandeur.

As for Honegger’s two orchestral showpieces: Pacific 231 builds a fine head of steam, its orchestral mechanism, its squealing pistons and the like vividly revealed (how often this piece sounds more thickly scored than it is). Its majestic horn-led arrival is bang on schedule. Rugby is the mechanistic equivalent in male muscle and sinew, full of testosterone and resolve and, in Fischer’s hands, a kind of awkward grace. The same might be said of Stravinsky’s Barnum and Bailey elephants, whose idea of a polka has never chimed with mine.

-- Edward Seckerson, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine  PERFORMANCE: ***** / RECORDING: *****
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Feb13/Skride_recital_C849121A.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jul/15/baiba-skride-stravinsky-honegger-review
https://www.thestrad.com/stravinsky-violin-concerto-circus-polka-martin-violin-concerto-honegger-pacific-231-rugby/5146.article
https://www.amazon.com/Violin-Concertos-STRAVINSKY-MARTIN/dp/B0080EG7JQ

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Igor Stravinsky (17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Rite of Spring (1913). Stravinsky's output is typically divided into three general style periods: a Russian period, a neoclassical period, and a serial period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky

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Frank Martin (15 September 1890 – 21 November 1974) was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands. Martin's music was often inspired by his Christianity. The Petite Symphonie Concertante of 1944/45 made Martin's international reputation, and is the best known of his orchestral works, as the early Mass is the best known of his choral compositions, and the Jedermann monologues for baritone and piano or orchestra the best known of his works for solo voice. Martin's music is widely performed in continental Europe, and to a much lesser extent, in the United Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Martin_(composer)

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Arthur Honegger (10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les Six, but his style is weightier and more solemn than that of his colleagues. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which was inspired by the sound of a steam locomotive. The principal elements of Honegger's style are: Bachian counterpoint, driving rhythms, melodic amplitude, highly coloristic harmonies, an impressionistic use of orchestral sonorities, and a concern for formal architecture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Honegger

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Baiba Skride (born 1981) is a Latvian classical violinist. She was the winner of the Queen Elisabeth Violin Contest in 2001, and has performed around the world. Baiba Skride comes from a very musical Latvian family. She attended a special school for musical talents in Riga, and from 1995 studied at the Conservatory of Music and Theatre in Rostock with Petru Munteanu. She also has taken masterclasses with Ruggiero Ricci and Lewis Kaplan. Baiba Skride previously played the Stradivarius "Wilhelmj" violin (1725), and then the "Ex Baron Feilitzsch" Stradivarius violin (1734). She now plays the Yfrah Neaman Stradivarius.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiba_Skride
http://baiba-skride.com/?lang=en

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