Published Reviews
By Calum MacDonald
International Record Review
01-May-2001
“This is the other great C. F. Ramuz collaboration, apart from The Soldier’s Tale. In 1938 Igor Markevitch and the Voudois poet planned a musical work that would last an entire evening, a ‘concert’ whose overall form would contain several separately performable pieces, some of them setting verses which Ramuz would devise at appropriate points. The theme would be the various ages of man, mirrored in the turning of the seasons. Markevitch worked on the project through 1939—within a few years he would have renounced composition for good, but now, aged 27, he was at the height of his creative powers.
Altogether La taille de l’Homme is a virtuoso ensemble work which fully deserves to be in the repertoire of such groups as the London Sinfonietta and the Ensemble Modern. The soloists of the Arnhem Philharmonic acquit themselves very well, making this one of the most valuable issues in Marco Polo’s Markevitch series…The recording itself…is of a high standard, and Lucy Shelton, in fine voice, makes the most of her opportunities. There is currently no other means to hear this fascinating work, and the disc can be heartily welcomed...’
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