This Ondine debut album by the award-winning Lithuanian mezzo-soprano Justina Gringyte, one of the foremost rising stars of the opera world, and pianist Malcolm Martineau is her first solo album and the complete recording of Georges Bizet's (1838-1875) long-forgotten masterpiece, Vingt Melodies (20 Songs), Op. 21. Year 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the death of Bizet, one of the greatest French composers of all time. During his short career of little more than twenty years Bizet composed a substantial quantity of music, including 15 operas. Bizet has been compared with Mozart in his sensitivity to the human voice and understanding of it's expressive potential. Several of Bizet's operas predate his twenty songs Opus 21, written between 1854 and 1872. Anyone new to these songs, a collection including many masterpieces, may wonder how music of such consistent quality could be so neglected! Clearly, they must be ranked among Bizet's most representative works.
Baritone Florian Boesch and pianist Malcolm Martineau continue their successful collaboration on Linn with a recital pairing two geniuses who hated each other. Exploring the rivalry between Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf, the album showcases some of their most compelling songs which express deep emotion and philosophical themes. Brahms's Vier ernste Gesange, written in memory of Clara Schumann, contrasts melancholy with transcendence, whilst lieder like Sehnsucht and Die Trauernde evoke poignant pain and unresolved longing. Wolf, in his Goethe and Michelangelo songs, captures profound existential reflections, contrasting fame with love and weaving harmonies that echo the complexities of human emotion. The album concludes with Wolf's Prometheus, a tour-de-force of maximum power befitting Florian and Malcolm, two giants of the lieder scene.
Malcolm Martineau follows up his acclaimed complete song collections of Duparc, Poulenc and Faure with a double album celebrating the complete songs of Maurice Ravel, performed by a bumper roster of singers: Lorna Anderson, Julie Boulianne, John Chest, Sarah Dufresne Dafydd Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Paula Murrihy, Nicky Spence and William Thomas. French composer Maurice Ravel known for his musical craftsmanship and clear style drew on elements of baroque, neoclassicism, modernism and later on, jazz in his compositions. His vocal works span 4 decades, from 1893 to 1933. Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau is recognised at the highest international level as one of the UK's leading accompanists, performing worldwide alongside the world's greatest singers and with a discography of over 100 albums, including a number of award-winning recordings.
Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner & Schumann: Mannerliebe und Lebe
Gramola Records
CD
$24.99Oct 04, 2024
Following the successful album "Nicht Wiedersehen!", the internationally acclaimed bassist Gunther Groissbock and one of the most distinguished pianists in his field, Malcolm Martineau, are now dedicating their new program to the subject of love; under the title "Mannerliebe und Leben" (A Man's Love and Life), they explore love from a man's point of view - based on Schumann's well-known cycle "Frauenliebe und -leben" (A Woman's Love and Life). Beginning with what is probably the first known song cycle in music history, "An die ferne Geliebte" by Ludwig van Beethoven, the well-rehearsed duo then present Schumann's "Dichterliebe". Three songs by Anton Bruckner ("I'm April", "Herbstkummer" and "Mein Herz und deine Stimme") are preceded by further selected songs by Johannes Brahms, including "Wie bist du, meine Konigin", "Unbewegte laue Luft", "Die Mainacht" and "Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen".
Pianist Malcolm Martineau is the brilliant initiator of this new one-of-a-kind series on Linn. The Brahms Songbook has set the unprecedented goal to record Brahms's lieder by complete opus number. In this second instalment, Malcolm is joined by star mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly and bass-baritone Hanno Muller-Brachmann in five sets that were composed and published over a period of thirty years: Op. 72, Op. 105, Op. 43, Op. 48 and Op. 57. In a time when the middle-class was growing, song-writing was both lucrative and pleasurable, offering a myriad of ways to explore perennially popular topics like unrequited love. Yet, in the lieder recorded here Brahms immerses us in a heightened emotional world, distant from the drawing rooms and concert halls of the bourgeoisie.
For a period of the 20th Century, due to his talent and association with Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears was perhaps the world's most famous classical singer. Pears inspired Britten to create great works of art precisely because Pears was a compelling artist with an exceptional voice, an inquisitive mind, a knowledge of art, history, literature and poetry. They became a self-perpetuating duo, inspiring each other to even greater heights of artistry, technical ability, and emotional certainty. This album of works by Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Oldham, Richard Rodney Bennett and Geoffrey Bush is performed by tenor Robin Tritschler, who is joined by cellist Philip Higham, guitarist Sean Shibe and pianist Malcolm Martineau. Praise for Robin Tritschler and Malcolm Martineau: 4 stars Performance, 4 stars Recording "Robin Tritschler's sweet-toned voice is a continual delight, as is Malcolm Martineau's sparkling, pearly, luminous piano sound" - BBC Music Magazine
Malcolm Martineau is the brilliant initiator of this new one-of-a-kind series on Linn. The Brahms Songbook has set the unprecedented goal to record Brahms’s lieder by complete opus number. For its first instalment, Martineau has teamed up with famed Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans in the expansive Romanzen aus Magelone, Op. 33. Composed between 1861 and 1869, the youthful, inevitably romantic fifteen-song cycle tells the story of a noble warrior, a Neapolitan princess and a sultan’s daughter. The operatic-like cycle goes through the emotions of each character as the tale unfolds. Oliemans’s busy stage career and ‘communicative singing style’ (The New York Times) make him the perfect fit. The album concludes with the virtually unknown ‘Regenlied’ cycle: four songs that were later included in Acht Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 59. Volume 2 will see Dame Sarah Connolly and Hanno Müller-Brachmann share the bill.
R. Schumann: Dichterliebe & Kerner Lieder / Boesch, Martineau
Linn Records
CD
$20.99Jun 23, 2023
The ultimate song cycle performed by two of today’s foremost lieder interpreters; this release is destined to become the reference recording for anyone interested in the great German song tradition. Baritone Florian Boesch’s eagerly-awaited second album on Linn presents Robert Schumann’s best-loved song cycle, Dichterliebe, Op. 48: sixteen poetic gems by Heinrich Heine which reflect on a poet’s idea of love and loss. Treated on equal terms, the piano plays a decisive role, adding extra layers whilst emphasizing and enhancing the text. The lesser-known Zwölf Gedichte von Justinus Kerner complete the programme. This recording reunites the exceptional partnership of Florian Boesch and leading song pianist Malcolm Martineau, whose previous Linn recording, Schumann & Mahler: Lieder, won the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award. Surely the lieder recording highlight of the year!
Rott, Mahler, R. Strauss: Nicht Wiedersehen! / Groissböck, Martineau
Gramola Records
CD
$24.99Nov 18, 2022
The Austrian bass Günther Groissböck enchants on the opera and concert stages around the world with the unique noble sound of his voice and virtually breathtaking verve of performance. Together with Malcolm Martineau, who is recognized worldwide as one of the leading piano accompanists of his generation, Groissböck presents on the album “Nicht Wiedersehen!” incomparable interpretations of late Romantic songs and ballads by Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler and Hans Rott.
The duo pays homage to passion in Strauss songs such as “Zueignung”, “Allerseelen” or “Breit' über mein Haupt”, or leaves the audience rather thoughtful with “Der Einsame”, “Das Thal” or “Befreit”. Hans Rott, who died at a young age, can be heard in “Wandrer’s Nachtlied”, “Geistesgruß” and “Der Sänger”. Groissböck also brings the tragic characters in Mahler’s songs “Revelge”, “Zu Straßburg auf der Schanz’”, “Tamboursg’sell” or “Nicht wiedersehen!” to life in an incomparable way, before this great recording promises a transcendental end with “Urlicht”.
The Complete Songs of Duparc / Connolly, Spence, Thomas, Rendall, Martineau
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Jul 15, 2022
Malcolm Martineau follows up his acclaimed complete song collections of Poulenc and Faure with an album celebrating the solo songs of Henri Duparc, performed by an acclaimed roster of British singers – Dame Sarah Connolly, Huw Montague Rendall, Nicky Spence & William Thomas. An iconic figure in the world of French music – his songs described as being ‘imperfect...but works of genius’ by Ravel and ‘perfect’ by Debussy – Duparc only composed a handful of works during the first half of his life: following a nervous disorder in 1885 at age 37 he lived for a further 48 years, orchestrating and tinkering with his songs, but publishing nothing new.
Scottish pianist Malcolm Martineau is recognized at the highest international level as one of the UK’s leading accompanists, performing worldwide alongside the world’s greatest singers and with a discography of over 100 albums, including a number of award-winning recordings.
REVIEW
With four singers in the line-up, there is plenty of vocal variety. The lion’s share of the songs is allotted to Sarah Connolly who still has her voice in fine fettle. She perhaps displays a wider vibrato than in past, but the tone is beautiful and her expressiveness is undiminished, and her high notes ring out gloriously. She is allotted seven songs, while her three male colleagues have three each. But we shouldn’t forget the fifth participant, Malcolm Martineau at the piano. His role is just as important as the singers’, since these songs are no mere melodies with accompaniments but rather dramatic or narrative scenes, where the piano sets the scene and propels the action forward. In that respect Duparc is Wagnerian in his approach. Obviously we focus on the singer, but the piano part mustn’t be suppressed. Malcolm Martineau shows that he is a born director and keeps the proceedings on a tight rein.
The Complete Songs of Fauré, Vol. 4 / Martineau, Davies et al.
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Jul 09, 2021
This is the final volume in the acclaimed series with Malcolm Martineau, charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré and performed by a selection of the world’s finest singers. This series follows Martineau’s heralded 5-album series of The Complete Songs of Francis Poulenc. Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and studied at the Royal College of Music. Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bar, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel. He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival. Includes full lyrics with English translations.
Robin Tritschler explores the origins of the Song Cycle. The creation of the Song Cycle as a new art form in the early 19th Century was paved with musical experiments and innovations. This album charts the progress made by the great Lied composers of the day toward the cyclical perfection finally achieved by Beethoven and Schubert, and since emulated by Schumann, Loewe, Wolf, Fauré, Britten, Shostakovich and so many others. Irish tenor Robin Tritschler graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and was a BBC New Generation Artist. He performed with the Welsh National Opera (Almaviva, Nemorino, Narraboth, Ferrando, Don Ottavio and Belmonte), Nantes Opera, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, La Monnaie Brussels and Teatro Colon Buenos Aires; in concert with the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Scottish Chamber orchestras, London Philharmonic Orchestra (Jurowski, Nézet-Séguin and Stutzmann), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (Karabits), Hong Kong Philharmonic (de Waart) and at the BBC Proms (Sir Mark Elder). He performs regularly in recital at the Wigmore Hall, also appearing in Cologne, Amsterdam, Washington and for the Aldeburgh and Aix-en-Provence festivals. His recording of World War One songs on Signum with Malcolm Martineau is critically acclaimed.
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REVIEW:
Tritschler sings his programme as eloquently as he writes about it. Pride of place inevitably goes to the Beethoven, where he combines something of Fritz Wunderlich’s warmth with Christian Gerhaher’s altogether darker introspection, and is beautifully alert to the cycle’s constant shifts of emotion and mood. He and Martineau, meanwhile, very much form an equal partnership, and you get a real sense of almost instinctive give and take between them.
This recording brings together Florian Boesch, one of today’s foremost Lieder interpreters, and Malcolm Martineau, who is widely recognized as one of the leading accompanists of his generation. With a partnership honed over many concerts and several recordings together, including a Grammy-nominated Die schöne Mullerin, the pair turn their attention to two of the greatest song cycles of the nineteenth century. The recording opens with Schumann’s Op. 39, Liederkreis, settings of Joseph von Eichendorff’s poems, and finishes with Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, written around forty years later. The songs selected all tell, in varying hues, of the Romantic individual’s sense of alienation from others and of transcendence, or the longing for it. An expressive and accomplished storyteller Boesch’s perceptive phrasing and exquisite range of colours is well matched by Martineau’s virtuosic and perfectly synchronized accompaniment.
No Exceptions, No Exemptions / Robin Trischler, Malcolm Martineau
Signum Classics
CD
$19.99Nov 11, 2014
A song recital which commemorates World War One brings to mind works by the poets and composers who fought valiantly for their country. Their music and words, often full of joy and desire, are made more profound and poignant by their personal sacrifices and experiences. But the affliction of the War was not restricted to the battlefields. As well as those who fought, there were those interned, those who stayed to defend their home, and those who were forced from their homes by the advancing armies. There were those who worked in munitions factories, and those who cared for the wounded.
This recital draws its inspiration from those lives upturned by the Great War, whether friend or foe, soldier or civilian. Some survived the conflict to produce great catalogues of works. Others never made it home, penning their final songs in the mud of the trenches.
As many of the featured composers fell in battle, I restricted my choice of songs to those composed in the years shortly before, and of, the war itself. With only a few exceptions, the featured poets too were involved in conflict. Alongside established works, this recital programme introduces some little known songs to portray the humanity of those caught up in the torrent of The Great War.
