Konzert für Cembalo und kleines Orchester

The Concerto for harpsichord and small orchestra was composed in Amsterdam in 1951-52 as a commission for Isabelle Nef, to whom the work is dedicated. About the concerto Martin writes (in the posthumously published A propops de…: commentaires de Frank Martin sur ses œuvres, edited by Maria Martin in 1984): “I was staying at the North Sea when I began it, and the even rolling of the waves suggested to me the wavelike motion of the six eighth-notes that dominates the entire first section.” And to Peter Mieg, who was also considering writing a harpsichord concerto, he wrote: “I did it because it was to a certain degree ‘in the air’. I have pupils in Cologne who did so before me, and I am sure that there will be a new literature for this instrument, a literature that will in many respects be close to our experience. I am even surprised that this movement has taken so long to make itself known, since the harpsichord was resurrected quite a while ago for the rendering of Baroque music.”

The Concerto for harpsichord and small orchestra was first performed at the ISCM Festival in Venice on 14 September 1952; Isabelle Nef performed the solo part under the direction of Fernando Previtali. (Christoph Schlüren, 2004)

Instrumentation details:

• 1st flute
• 2nd flute
• oboe
• clarinet in A
• bassoon
• 1st horn in F
• 2nd horn in F
• trumpet in C
• violin I(8)
• violin II(8)
• viola(6)
• violoncello(6)
• contrabass(3)