Martin “Petite Symphonie Concertante”

[eliza-morrison]

Has anyone played the Frank Martin triple concerto “Petite Symphonie Concertante” for harp, harpsichord and piano? What is the harp part like?

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

It has some tricky parts, is rhythmically tricky, and it lays in the hands similarly to Hindemith’s Sonata, as I recall. Stokowski made a splendid recording of it in which the harp is quite prominent. Balance is very tricky with the harpsichord.

[eliza-morrison]

I only heard the piece once, in the early 1980’s when the Boston Symphony did it, with the wonderful Ann Hobson Pilot playing harp. I recall that they amplified the harpsichord slightly, but not the harp or the piano.

[Katherine Denler]

It was played here recently (IU) and I subbed for it one day — very, very fun to play. It lays well in the hands, and you need to have a good internal pulse.

[HBrock25]

I turned pages for the harpsichordist for that performance. The pianist was Fred Moyer and the harpishordist was Mark Kroll. Colin Davis conducted. They did amplify the harpsichord only – even with a “Wanda Landowska” harpischord, amplification is required.

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