Raphaël Martenot News
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2024-03-21
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2024-03-11 03:30:00
Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (CD Review)
by Karl Nehring Marc-André Hamelin, piano; Nathalie Forget, ondes Martenot; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno, conductor. Harmonia Mundi 905336 Those relatively new to classical music who may be unfamiliar with the Turangalîla Symphony.by the late French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) are in for quite the ear- and mind-expanding experience when they first encounter this expansive, expressive, exhilarating 10-movement, 80-minute piece that is scored for piano, ondes Martenot, and orchestra. Nor may many music lovers reading this review be familiar with the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument with a sound similar to that of a theremin (more information here ). In general, Messiaen blends the sounds of the ondes Martenot and the piano with the sound of the orchestra rather than featuring either instrument in a concerto-like fashion, even though in concert performance, both instruments take their place in front of the orchestra, as they would for a concerto. There are passages, however, where Hamelin, one of […]
2023-08-07 14:34:14
Chaminade and Jolivet, 2023
[…] short song L'anneau d'argent. Bengt Forsberg is on the piano. In the last three years, there has been no resurgence of interest in the music of André Jolivet, even if of the two, he is the more interesting, more inventive composer. We have several of his pieces in our library and have written about him more than once (for example, here). A prolific composer, Jolivet wrote several concertos. One of them was for the Ondes Martenot, an analog synthesizer invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot; the sound of the Ondes (waves in French) is somewhat similar to that of a Theremin, another electronic instrument invented by the Russian researcher Leon Theremin around the same time). Jolivet also composed three symphonies, chamber and keyboard music, operas, and many songs. Here, from 1954, is Jolivet’s unusually scored Basson Concerto with the string orchestra, piano and harp (André Jolivet conducts the Jean-François Paillard […]
2023-06-18 11:38:00
LSO/Rattle - Jolas and Messiaen, 15 June 2023
Barbican HallBetsy Jolas: Ces belles années Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie Faustine de Monès (soprano)Peter Donohoe (piano)Cynthia Millar (ondes Martenot)London Symphony OrchestraSir Simon Rattle (conductor)Images: Mark Allan Simon Rattle’s tenure as Music Director of the LSO has been cruelly cut short by English nationalism. The United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, together with Theresa May’s spiteful quashing of a new concert hall project on the grounds that it had been supported by her political enemy George Osborne, ultimately proved too much. And who can blame him, with a family in Berlin? There is only so much fighting one can do. If a great city such as Munich made me an offer, I should be off like a shot. Not that London in general or the LSO in particular has seen the last of Sir Simon; he will return as Conductor Emeritus, not least to continue the Janáček opera series whose Katya Kabanova […]
2022-09-02 16:32:00
Grosses Festspielhaus Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act I and ‘Liebestod’ Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie Yuja Wang (piano)Cécile Lartigau (ondes Martenot)Vienna Philharmonic OrchestraEsa-Pekka Salonen (conductor)A little morning light music by Wagner and Messiaen proved a fine way to round off my visit to this year’s Salzburg Festival. Esa-Pekka Salonen is by now quite an experienced Wagnerian, especially for one not so associated with the opera house. His association with Tristan und Isolde goes back many years by now; I have heard him conduct it both in Paris and (in concert) in London. This performance of the first-act Prelude and so-called ‘Liebestod’—Wagner’s ‘Verklärung’ is surely closer to the mark—spoke with the wisdom of long acquaintance, yet not the slightest hint of staleness. The same, of course, could be said of the Vienna Philharmonic—Wagner’s abortive planned Vienna premiere notwithstanding. Indeed, both conductor and orchestra took care to ensure that there was much […]
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