Classical Californians: Jaime Martín

Paul Marc Mitchell

This week’s Classical Californian is conductor Jaime Martín, who’s Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – as well as leading the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, he’s the principal guest conductor of Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España in his native country of Spain. Martín began his musical career as a flute player, working with some great conductors like Sir Neville Marriner, George Solti, Zubin Mehta, and Nicholas Harnoncourt.

For his Classical Californians segment, he’s chosen some vocal music that he says perfectly demonstrates the kind of phrasing and vibrato that any musician should try to achieve; a Mozart concerto in which he soloed; a piece by Debussy showing the kind of orchestration that can create a “floboe”; and a four-hand piano piece by Schubert that’s stayed in his mind since he heard it for the first time when he was a student.

He begins with two vocal pieces – first, it’s Edita Gruberova singing Mozart’s aria “Vorrei spiegarvi, o Dio”…  Listen to his introduction by clicking the play button!

The next selection is sung by Anne Sofie von Otter, a simple and beautiful song by Kurt Weill called “Je ne t’aime pas…”

Then, a look back at the time he spent as a flute player…

The orchestration of Debussy – creating a “floboe” and “flarinet” by mixing the orchestral colors…

His final selection is a Schubert Fantasy for four-hand piano, played by Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu…