Violin Concerto

Program notes

About the Work

Frank Martin’s Violin Concerto, written in 1950–51, is one of the most beautiful and rewarding violin concertos of the twentieth century, though it remains less often heard than it deserves. It was commissioned by the Pro Helvetia foundation to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Basel Chamber Orchestra, and dedicated to that orchestra’s visionary founder-conductor Paul Sacher, one of the great patrons of modern music. The premiere was given in Basel on 24 January 1952 by the violinist Hansheinz Schneeberger with Sacher conducting.

Martin came to the concerto directly after his Five Songs of Ariel, choral settings from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and he said the concerto kept something of that music’s ‘mysterious and somewhat magical atmosphere.’ That is the key to its character. This is not a flashy display vehicle but a lyrical, atmospheric and deeply expressive work, cast in the classical three-movement form but speaking in Martin’s own subtle harmonic language, tonal at its core yet coloured with the chromatic richness he had absorbed from Schoenberg. The solo violin sings, muses and soars rather than merely dazzles, woven into refined, transparent orchestral textures. For a soloist of real musical depth it is a treasure, and for listeners willing to follow its mysterious, slowly unfolding beauty it is among the rewarding discoveries of twentieth-century music.

What to Listen For

Come to this expecting atmosphere and lyricism rather than fireworks. Listen for the ‘mysterious and magical’ quality Martin spoke of: the way the solo violin emerges from and floats above shimmering, finely-spun orchestral textures, in music that is harmonically rich and subtly shaded without ever losing its tonal warmth or its singing line.

The concerto follows the classic fast–slow–fast plan. In the outer movements, listen for the interplay of the violin’s long lyrical lines with the orchestra, and for Martin’s distinctive harmony, chromatic and piquant but never harsh. The slow movement is the expressive heart, a grave, song-like meditation of real beauty, the soloist spinning out long melodies of quiet intensity. Throughout, notice how Martin keeps the orchestra transparent so the violin can always be heard, and how the music’s mood is contemplative and inward even at its most animated. It is a concerto that rewards close, patient listening with a beauty that is all its own.