Carlo Martelli: Sredni Vashtar and other works on CD

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, Martelli composed several 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. At this time, he earned a living as a professional violist playing under Beecham with the RPO and the Sadler’s Wells Orchestra. During the Glock years Martelli wrote several film scores and many ‘highly sophisticated’ arrangements for string quartet. This latter music covered the gamut from 17th century to ‘pop’. They were instant hits and received many broadcasts. During the nineteen-eighties, Martelli composed several ‘light’ pieces including ‘Persiflage’, ‘Promenade’ and a ‘Jubilee March’. In the next decade the opera The Monkey’s Paw and a children’s opera, the present The Curse of Christopher Columbus were written.

The longest work on this new CD is Sredni Vashtar for narrator, soprano and orchestra. It is a setting of a short story by the Scottish author Hector Hugh Munro, whose pen-name was ‘Saki’. It reveals his characteristic balance of cruelty and wit.

Sredni Vashtar is a large polecat which the boy Conradin keeps in a disused tool shed. He begins to worship the cat, offers up prayers to the beast and subsequently imagines what evil it could wreak on his ‘domineering guardian’ Mrs De Ropp.

Carlo Martelli’s music is an ideal fusion of stage, cinema, orchestra, chamber music, and voices with which he has worked all his career. The work has been ‘under construction’ for many years. Some of the music dates back as far as 1953 to incidental music written for a performance of Menander’s play The Rape of the Locks. The balance between the relative wit of the narrator (Simon Callow) and the haunting song of the boy himself beautifully sung by the soprano (Lesley-Jane Rogers) is well-judged. A large orchestra is used. Carlo Martelli has created a judicious and subtle work.

Despite this praise, it is not a story that I warm to. It is really about a two people who are downright nasty to each other: I feel that I have no sympathy for either character nor the ferret.

The three extracts from Carlo Martelli’s children’ opera The Curse of Christopher Columbus whet the appetite to hear the entire work. It was commissioned in 1992 by the Shropshire County School of Music to celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of America. The libretto was by Chris Eldon Leigh. The opera was duly premiered on 14 July 1992. I was delighted to read that the entire work has been recorded by the Carma Record label and is due to be released in early 2019. Hopefully, I will be able to review this disc. Till then, I can recommend these enjoyable extracts. Meanwhile I will not plot spoil.

The first extract features a rough-hewn hornpipe from Scene 14 when Columbus sets sail in search of the New World. The second piece is from the very beginning of the opera. This part of the story is set in an art gallery where a statue of Christopher Columbus is about to be unveiled to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of his voyage. Here the listener will be conscious of Martelli’s skill as a film composer honed by his work with the Hammer Horror Films. The soprano creates an air of apprehension with her ‘aria’ Something Stirs.’ The final extract is the fanciful ‘Frigate Bird Duet.’ These two birds, Dogger and Finisterre are sung by two sopranos, Lesley-Jane Rogers and Olivia Robinson. The liner notes accurately describe this as a ‘delightfully Vaudevillian duet.’ This tripartite song opens with introductions, followed by a wry and cynical look at other explorers who predated Columbus’s Atlantic crossing. The last part is the Frigate Birds’ farewell. The final bars are a brilliant bit of musical seascape with wind and spray. Oh! that Martelli had written a Sea Symphony!

For me, the most interesting work on this CD is the Serenade for Strings, op.3. This was composed in 1955 when the Martelli was only 20 years old. It was subsequently revised before being given its premiere performance at the 1958 Cheltenham Festival.

The reviewer in the Birmingham Daily Post (12 July 1958) suggested that the Italian side of the composer’s nature expressed itself in ‘the fluent, lissom melodic lines and his sunny clarity of texture.’ I think I agree with this reviewer that the Serenade does not display a clear musical personality.  Certainly, many of Martelli’s themes and musical ideas have considerable character, but somehow the work just does not quite come together. It may be that there is a little stylistic imbalance between the movements that the composer has not quite got around to ironing out. That said, the individual parts of this work make a splendid contribution to British string orchestra repertoire. My favourite movement is the ‘Tarantella’. This is a masterpiece in string writing, with scherzo-like music propelled along by the dynamic staccato accompaniment. The trio section is much more ‘chilled’, before the driving dance music returns. The final movement is also a masterclass in string writing. From an almost negligible tune, Martelli weaves a splendid selection of variations, which never stray too far from the theme.

This is a fascinating CD that introduce three works that have never been recorded before. It is handsomely produced and finely performed. The liner notes by Paul Conway is essential reading. The text of Sredni Vashtar is given in full. I look forward to further releases from the composer’ own record label.

Track Listing:

Carlo MARTELLI (b.1935)

Sredni Vashtar: A Symphonic Drama after Saki for narrator, soprano and orchestra (completed, 2017)

The Curse of Christopher Columbus: (excerpts from the opera) Hornpipe, Prelude and Scene 1, Frigate Birds’ Duet (1992)

Serenade for Strings (1955)

Royal Ballet Sinfonia/Ronald Corp, Simon Callow (narrator), Lesley-Jane Rogers (soprano), Olivia Robinson (soprano)

Rec. Angel Studios London 4-5 January 2018

CARMA Records CARMA001

Carlo Martelli: String Chamber Music Recording

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.  Many 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 Mummies 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, a few notes 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 being 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 17^th century to ‘pop’. They were instant hits and received many broadcasts. During the ‘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 opera, The Curse of Christopher Columbus were composed. 

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’s, 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, 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 Carlo 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. But 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 Anton Dvorak’s eponymous work and had chosen to write an essay for the same instrumental forces.  Dvorak’s work was composed in 1887 and was in four movements: Martelli has used three – an ‘allegro moderato’, an ‘andante cantabile’ and a concluding ‘vivace’. Paul 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: Bartok 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 recast 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 this work.  I loved the bustling scherzo. It is less ‘exploratory’ in mood than the opening movement: it is exiting and makes use of a guitar-like strumming which gives a ‘Mediterranean’ feel to this music. 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 on after 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 off.  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.

Track Listing:

Carlo MARTELLI (b.1935)

String Quartet No. 1 in C major Op.1 (1953) Prelude & Fugue for string quartet Op.10 (2003)

Terzetto for 2 violins and viola Op.5 (1956) String Quartet No, 2 Op.2 (1954) Pavão Quartet, Kerenza Peacock (violin) Jenny Sacha (violin) Natalia Gomes (viola) Byrony James (cello) Zoe Matthews (viola, Prelude & Fugue) Nicola Tait (cello, Prelude & Fugue) 
DISCADIA DISCA002

Carlo Martelli: Symphony, Op.4 (1955-56)

Apart from a few pieces of ‘light’ music such as Persiflage and the Jubilee March, I have never heard any significant work by the London born composer Carlo Martelli. This present Symphony is certainly an eye-opener and is in a totally different league to these more ephemeral pieces – at least from the point of view emotional power, concentration and architecture.

There are four things that need to be said about this excellent Symphony. Firstly, although it may not be the greatest example of the genre from its era, it is a fine, important work that is both challenging and interesting and compares favourably to symphonies by Frankel, Searle and Gardner. Secondly, one needs to bear in mind that the composer was only 19 years old and was still studying at the Royal College of Music. Although there is nothing precocious about this music, it is a superb early work that any composer would and should be immensely proud of. There is much here that is original, in spite of some nods to Shostakovich and other contemporary figures. Thirdly, the quality of the instrumentation shows great skill and imagination – much of the score is unsettling but the use of colour and texture is satisfying. And finally, it is hard to believe that a work which showed such promise has been virtually ignored for over half a century. I know that this has affected many symphonies by British composers from this era, but in Martelli’s case it is especially unfortunate as the work was initially widely fêted and was then subsequently forgotten.

This work has been released on Dutton Epoch CDLX7270 and can be purchased from the Dutton Vocalion Wepage.