Frank Martin: Golgotha (2010)

Frank Martin's 90-minute oratorio Golgotha, written just after the Second World War, is a monument of 20th century choral music, but because modern concert audiences aren't exactly clamoring for large-scale religious works and because of its demands both on its performing forces and listeners, it remains a piece that is not frequently performed. The subject of Golgotha was close to the composer's heart, and it reveals him at the height of his expressive powers. He approached it with full awareness of the towering influence ... Read More

Frank Martin's 90-minute oratorio Golgotha, written just after the Second World War, is a monument of 20th century choral music, but because modern concert audiences aren't exactly clamoring for large-scale religious works and because of its demands both on its performing forces and listeners, it remains a piece that is not frequently performed. The subject of Golgotha was close to the composer's heart, and it reveals him at the height of his expressive powers. He approached it with full awareness of the towering influence of Bach's Passions, particularly the St. Matthew Passion, and Bach's presence is evident not only in its music but in its gravity and emotional depth. Particularly in the chorales, the music sounds like Baroque structures filtered through a disturbingly raw contemporary sensibility. The use of dissonance feels entirely appropriate to the material, though, giving the story a visceral urgency, and in the moments of repose Martin's vocabulary recalls the perfumed exoticism of Debussy's... Read Less

• All

• All Copies (0)
• Choose Release (1)

Currently there are no copies available. However, our inventory changes frequently. Please check back soon or try Book Fetch.

2010, Harmonia Mundi UPC: 794881942923 CD See All