Some three years ago
Christopher Hogwood was the conductor
for an Arte Nova disc of piano and orchestra
pieces from the 1930s. This saw him
branching away from the ancient music
world and seeking a broader horizon.
The disc included a very good Martinu
Toccata e Due Canzoni. Since
then he has recorded the First Violin
Concerto for Supraphon and now comes
this selection of ballet/jazz pieces
- two for ensemble and one for full
orchestra. All date from 1927; five
years before Martinů’s
move to Paris.
Le Raid is
concerned with the tragic failure of
two French aviators, Charles Nungesser
and François Coli, to fly across
the Atlantic on 8 May 1927. Two weeks
after the loss of the two fliers Charles
Lindbergh succeeded where they had failed.
Aviation references appear throughout
the work's five movements. In the final
segment, La Mer, the Morse code
‘SOS’ figure rings out on the piano
rather like the homing signal in Barber's
Second Symphony. The score is nowhere
near as dry as you might fear and the
jazz influence is virtually undetectable.
It sounds more like a mood-score for
a film. The outer movements Un Oiseau
and La Mer as well as Les
Cartes (a gentle canon) are humane
and quite beautiful with the mature
Martinů
personality is very much to the fore
in La Mer.
In Le Raid Merveilleux
the
ensemble is Bohumil Kotmel and František
Havlin (violins), Jaroslav Pondeliček
and Ivan Paznour (violas), František
Host (cello), Tomáš Kopáček, Ivan
Doksanský (clarinets), František Herman
(bassoon), Zdeněk Šedivý (trumpet),
Pavel Polívka (percussion) and Daniel
Wiesner (piano)
After not much of a
pause we pitch into La Revue de Cuisine.
This is for six instruments and is in
ten movements. The music is sappy, dryish,
jerky and even carries a folk flavour
(try the polka Prologue). Stravinsky
(Petrouchka meets Pulcinella
in chamber orchestration) is clearly
an influence. There is also a strutting
absurdist element akin to the Shostakovich
First Piano Concerto. The Duel movement
(tr. 11) is marked 'Tempo di Charleston'
and that dance is prominent at 1.10
onwards. ‘Oompah’ and other popular
dance elements flit to and fro through
these pages. Le Fin du Drame
(tr. 15) vivaciously recaps the dances
of the previous movements.
This is the first recording
of the complete ballet of La Revue.
Movements from it were famously included
on a 1960s Supraphon LP later reissued
on CD.
The grouping for La
Revue is
Bohumil Kotmel (violin), František Host
(cello), Tomáš Kopáček (clarinet),
František Herman (bassoon), Jaroslav
Halíř (trumpet) and Daniel Wiesner
(piano).
After the stripped-down
and spare textures of the first two
ballets, En Tourne introduces
the uproar of the full orchestra in
Martinů-typical full flow. There
are eight movements with some
amazing trumpet playing in the tumult
of the first movement. This is the CD
premiere recording of the ballet On
tourne! Daniel Wiesner is the busily
engaged pianist.
The recorded image
across all three works is very close;
closer than a listener would be in the
front seats.
This disc was sponsored
by the Bohuslav Martinu Foundation in
Prague: www.martinu.cz
Indispensable to Martinů
lovers - especially those fond of the
earlier works. This is rare material
done idiomatically and with an authentic
zest.
Rob Barnett
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Christopher Hogwood
