Johanna Martzy Michael Mann - Complete Deutsche Grammophon Recordings (2CD)

Complete on CD for the first time, the Deutsche Grammophon legacy of cult violinist Johanna Martzy, and of violist Michael Mann. Five original DG albums complete on two CDs.

MORE INFORMATION

The brilliant tone and discriminating taste of the recordings made by Johanna Martzy (1924-79) mark her out among the finest violinists of her generation. Her EMI albums, supervised by Walter Legge, were once highly prized rarities.

However, her recording career began with DG, who partnered her with two of their star conductors, Ferenc Fricsay and Eugen Jochum, in concertos by Dvořák (1953) and Mozart (No 4, from 1955). She had performed the Dvořák with Fricsay in concert, and their recording preserves a harmonious meeting of two fierily temperamental artists, widely rated among the best of the non-Czech recordings of the work.

Plans for Martzy to record Tchaikovsky’s concerto were abandoned when Legge poached her for HMV/EMI but subsequently lost interest. We are left with a small, precious legacy which opened in 1951, in the dying days of 78rpm recording, with her most constant recital partner, Jean Antonietti, at the piano. Encore pieces by Ravel, Milhaud, Falla and Szymanowski capture her Hungarian fire but do not represent her inclination away from virtuoso repertoire and towards the great sonatas and concertos. Mozart’s F major Sonata followed, and then Beethoven’s Op. 30 No. 3 as a coupling for the Mozart.

When Martzy’s encore pieces were reissued on LP, they were coupled in original fashion with two modern viola sonatas played by Michael Mann (1919–76), son of the novelist Thomas Mann. Mann’s DG recordings were completed a few months later in May 1952 with the Quatre visages of Milhaud, issued on a seven-inch 45rpm disc; with this release they reach CD for the first time. In his time Mann was recognised as a fine musician in his own right and not merely his father’s son. He played in the San Francisco Symphony before teaching German literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Tully Potter provides the fascinating background note.

TRACK LIST

CD 1
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK (1841–1904)
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
Johanna Martzy, violin
RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Ferenc Fricsay

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, KV 218
Johanna Martzy, violin
Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Eugen Jochum

Sonata for Piano and Violin in F major, KV 376 (374d)


CD 2
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Sonata No. 8 in G major for Piano and Violin, Op. 30 No. 3

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré
Pièce en forme de habanera

DARIUS MILHAUD (1892–1974)
Ipanema (from Saudades do Brasil)

MANUEL DE FALLA (1876–1946)
Danse espagnole (from La vida breve, arr. Kreisler)

KAROL SZYMANOWSKI (1882–1937)
Notturno and Tarantella, Op. 28
Johanna Martzy, violin
Jean Antonietti, piano

ERNST KRENEK (1900–1991)
Sonata for Viola and Piano*
Michael Mann, viola
Yaltah Menuhin, piano

ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892–1955)
Sonata for Viola and Piano*

DARIUS MILHAUD (1892–1974)
Quatre visages*
Michael Mann, viola
Dika Newlin, piano

*FIRST RELEASE ON CD