Svetlin Roussev, L'Orchestre de Chambre de Genève & Arie van Beek - Frank Martin: Concerto pour violon / Esquisse (2021) [Hi-Res]

“Free man, you will always cherish the sea!” Even Geneva-born Frank Martin (1890-1974), who walked along the Swiss Alps’ rugged paths when he was a young man and tried his hand at rock climbing, didn’t give the lie to the poet Baudelaire! The sea’s infinite horizons gradually became for Frank Martin a com­pelling need that he satisfied when he was 56. He then settled in Holland, the country of his third wife, Maria Boecke (1915-2017). While taking long walks on the beaches and reconnecting with the feeling of silent plenitude he had already experienced among the high peaks, Frank Martin became convinced that “the mountains are static, whereas the sea has movement, rhythm and unlimited expanse”.

A link between this attraction to the sea and Frank Martin’s interest in William Shakespeare’s The Tem­pest cannot be excluded. In this drama, the waves and the turbulence they cause when they unleash their power play a crucial role.