FRANK MARTIN (1890-1974): Das Märchen vom Aschenbrödel - Ballet for Vocal Soloists and Orchestra.

Description: Dating from 1942, this setting uses the original Grimm fairy tale for its vocal portions (don't worry, voice-haters, most of the singing is in the first act, which is 25 minutes of the whole work's 68 and even then it's only about a quarter of the act) while the composer characterizes the bad stepmother and her daughters with jazz-influenced music while giving Cinderella an oboe-led delicate, Gallic winsomeness. The chamber orchestra is slightly unusual: flute, oboe, trombone, trumpet, two saxophones, piano, percussion and strings. This was Martin's next work after Le vin herbé and it shows him capable of lightness, wit and humor as well as the gravity one associates with so much of his œuvre. German-French texts. Clémence Tilquin, Alexandra Hewson (sopranos), David Hernandez Anfruns (tenor), Varduhi Khachatryan (contralto), Orchestre de la Haute école de musique de Genève; Gábor Takács-Nagy.