Carlo MARTELLI (b.1935)
String Quartet No. 1 in C major Op.1 (1953) [24:59]
Prelude and Fugue for string quartet Op.10 (2003) [8:35]
Terzetto for two violins and viola Op.5 (1956) [11:30]
String Quartet No, 2 Op.2 (1954) [31:15]
Pavão Quartet (Kerenza Peacock (violin); Jenny Sacha (violin); Natália
Gomes (viola); Bryony James (cello)); Zoe Matthews (viola - Prelude and Fugue);
Nicola Tait (cello - Prelude and Fugue)
rec. St Mary’s Church, Hanwell, London, 28-29 August 2012
DISCADIA DISCA002 [76:19]
For those engaged on an exploration of British music, the appearance of Carlo
Martelli’s youthful Second Symphony on the Dutton Epoch
label will have been a significant discovery. Unheard since the nineteen-fifties,
this well-crafted essay is challenging and compares favourably with contemporary
symphonies by Humphrey Searle, John Gardner, Benjamin Frankel and Malcolm
Arnold. These explorers will have also enjoyed Persiflage and the Jubilee
March which fall into the category of ‘light music’ - albeit
finely crafted. Martelli has made more that 250 arrangements of ‘popular’
songs for string quartet many of which have been recorded. People will have
heard Carlo Martelli’s music but few will have realised they have: this
composer is (or was) most often heard in his film music. He is not featured
on Classic FM like John Barry and John Williams, yet he contributed to a number
of classic Hammer Horror pictures including The Curse of the Mummy’s
Tomb, the scarily titled It and Catacombs. In addition to
this film music there are a number of ‘art music’ compositions
largely dating from Martelli’s younger days. Important works include
a lost First Symphony, a Serenade for Strings and an opera.
Paul Conway has provided a detailed biography of the composer in the liner
notes of the present CD as well as a major essay on MusicWeb International.
Nevertheless, come context may help readers of this review.
Carlo Martelli was born in London in 1935 to an Italian father and an English
mother. He studied at the Royal College of Music with William Lloyd Webber
and Bernard Stevens. During the nineteen-fifties he composed a number of orchestral
and chamber works which were performed at a variety of venues including the
Cheltenham Festival and the Royal Festival Hall. With the advent of William
Glock at the BBC, Martelli’s music was regarded as insufficiently avant-garde
and was promptly ignored. During these years he was a professional violist
playing under the baton of Beecham with the RPO and the Sadler’s Wells
Orchestra. During the Glock years Martelli, wrote a number of film scores
and the ‘highly sophisticated’ arrangements for string quartet.
This latter music covered the field from 17th century to ‘pop’.
They were instant hits and received many broadcasts. During the nineteen-eighties,
Martelli composed a number of ‘light’ pieces including the above
mentioned Persiflage (1983). In the next decade the opera The Monkey’s
Paw and a children’s opera, The Curse of Christopher Columbus
were written.
It is always instructive to hear a composer’s Opus 1. Sometimes, one
is underwhelmed by the banality of structure and effect. However, in the case
of Martelli, even the most critical of listeners must be impressed. The present
Quartet No.1 dates from 1953. Paul Conway is correct in stating that this
is an ‘outstandingly mature utterance from a 17-year old composer’.
Usually, a composer’s early works tend to be derivative and reflect
the achievements of their contemporaries or teachers. Often various styles
can be seen to be at war with each other. In Martelli’s case it is easy
to spot the influences - Bernard Stevens, the ‘pastoral’ school,
Tudor polyphony, the rising tide of atonal and serial music (this is not a
serial work) and Shostakovich. What he has produced is a synthesis rather
than a pastiche. The most important thing is that this music has withstood
the onset of many musical fashions since it was composed. It provides the
listener with interest from the first bar to the last. This String Quartet
is a considerable work in four finely balanced movements.
Martelli’s Terzetto, Op. 5 for 2 violins and viola was written in 1956.
The general mood of this work is of strong logic, rigorous development of
musical ideas and a sense of urgency. The composer had recently taken part
in a performance of Antonin Dvorak’s eponymous work and had chosen to
write an essay for the same instrumental forces. The Dvorak was composed in
1887 and was in four movements: Martelli has used three - an ‘allegro
moderato’, an ‘andante cantabile’ and a concluding ‘vivace’.
Conway points out that the composer refers to his recently completed symphony
by quoting a theme in the opening allegro. The middle movement, Andante Cantabile,
is reflective and ultimately sad. The ‘vivace’ is more abandoned
and makes use of something approaching a folk-tune. Yet this is no Morris
Men on the village green: Bartók is our man here - not Cecil Sharp.
The Terzetto is a serious work, well planned and sounding technically accomplished.
Dvorak’s exemplar may be ‘persiflage’: Martelli’s
contains deeper things.
The most recent work on this CD is the impressive Prelude and Fugue for string
sextet. The composer has added a second viola and cello to the standard quartet.
I am not sure that I would have appreciated the original incarnation of this
work - it was composed for some 18 violas of the National Youth Orchestra.
In 2003 the work was re-cast in its present form. The music is compelling
from the first bar of the ‘prelude’ through the anything-but-academic
fugue to the recapitulation of a theme from the opening bars. I am not an
expert on ‘fugue’ but is this a ‘double fugue’? This
is beautiful stuff. It is a work that demands to be heard over and over again.
The final essay on this exploration of Carlo Martelli’s chamber music
is the String Quartet No. 2. This was written in 1954, the year following
his first essay for the medium. Conway suggests that it is a ‘grittier’
work than the mellow polyphony of the first exercise. However, the composer
has a way of surprising us. For example the second subject of the opening
‘allegro non troppo’ is a surprisingly lyrical, almost ‘pop’
tune that contrasts dramatically with the acerbic writing of the opening theme.
It is this balance of styles that characterises the work. I loved the bustling
scherzo. It is less ‘exploratory’ in mood than the opening movement:
it is exciting and makes use of a guitar-like strumming which gives a ‘Mediterranean’
feel. The ‘trio’ by contrast is quiet and reticent. Fortunately,
this mood is soon broken by the return of the ‘sun-drenched’ tune.
The heart of this Quartet is the Lament, lento, which follows the scherzo.
This is once again lyrical music that is heart-rending in its intensity. Martelli
creates an unusual formal device at the end of this concentrated music: he
repeats the ‘trio’ from the ‘scherzo’ and brings the
‘slow’ movement to a close with a reprise of the ‘scherzo’
music. It is a satisfying conceit. The final movement is a set of variations
based on an ‘original theme’ by the composer.
Arthur Jacobs, after a performance of this Quartet at the Wigmore Hall, described
it as 'brimming over with ideas ... a keen grasp of structure' and 'excellently
written for strings'. It is an opinion that holds well today nearly sixty
years on.
Paul Conway has provided a stunning set of liner-notes for this CD. He introduces
Carlo Martelli and gives a detailed, but not dry, description of each piece.
It is an important essay on the composer and his chamber music. I have not
come across the Pavão Quartet; however their playing on all the pieces
presented is superb. They have recorded Martelli’s music before, with
‘The Great American Song Book’. I do not possess this CD, but
the composer was kind enough to play excerpts when I last visited him. It
is a model of an arranger’s genius: alas, it is a difficult CD to get
hold of. The Pavão Quartet has been singularly praised for their discs
of quartets by Edward Elgar and Arnold Bax. The Quartet was formed in 1998
at the Royal Academy of Music.
This CD is an outstanding introduction to Carlo Martelli’s chamber works.
It is music that is well-constructed, always satisfying in performance, and
ultimately moving. I find that these are works that I can do business with.
John France
Well-constructed, always satisfying and ultimately moving. Music I can do
business with.