These two short radio operas contrast well. The first is a Dadaist, avant-garde
one-acter which was turned down by the 1928 Baden-Baden Contemporary Music
festival because of its 'shocking' libretto, and never performed in Martinu's
lifetime. It involves a young woman falling in love with a hanged man and
killing herself because he doesn't reciprocate; that restores him to life
- - - ! Lively, jazzy music, very enjoyable & well performed and recorded,
featuring Hana Jonasova as the young woman with strange marital tastes, Lenka
Smidova and her mother and Roman Janal (baritone) as Satan. .
The Voice of the Forest was commissioned by Prague radio and broadcast
1935. Much more a Czech piece, melodic and in Martinu's familiar style. There
is a larger cast, with a chorus of bandits. Again well-played and sung, with
good balance. Composed around the same time as Comedy on the Bridge
it does not merit its neglect since then.
For CD opera collectors, it is interesting to note that Martinu believed
in the positive benefits of eliminating visual presentation, writing that
the concentration demanded from the listener at home enhanced the intensity
of the drama.
The presentation is lavish but odd. There is, of course, only one CD, but
two booklets are accommodated in the inch-thick double jewel case. The slimmer
one gives details of cast, timings and notes of the genesis of these pieces,
and the usual biographies, multilingually.
The other provides the libretti in four languages, but the pagination has
gone awry, with Czech + French texts backed by the English & German version!
This is a serious irritation for those who like to follow both the original
words being sung and English (or German) translation simultaneously, to keep
track what is happening. The mistake arose from putting p.2 on the right
hand page, instead of odd numbers to the right, which is a virtually universal
convention. In such eventful operas it really does matter. That apart, this
is a welcome release. (Czech accents omitted throughout; sorry!)
Reviewer
Peter Grahame Woolf
Prague
Philharmonia/Jiri Belohlavek with
soloists 
