Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)

[Mirror Image]

My first Martinu experience was the 1st Symphony, the Belohlavek recording on Chandos. I had seen it recommended somewhere and thought it would be a good place to start. The opening made me think of bubbles rising to the surface of the ocean and bursting. It made me a fan right away, along with the Double Concerto on the same disc.

Yes! A superb disc and still my reference for the 1st symphony. A killer performance of the Double Concerto, too.

It sure is! He seems to have all the bases covered.

Thank you. I'm incredibly fortunate to own what I own and not just Martinu, but so many other composers.

[Mirror Image]

Don't get John (MI) started on juvenilia collection, he likes it way too much

Damn right!

[Mirror Image]

Nice collection, and better than mine ... I don´t have that many alternative recordings of works, and mostly LPs, but a large bunch of the recorded oeuvre though.
Martinu is one of those composers you could study for a lifetime ...

Thank you. As I told Torso, I'm so grateful for being able to amass such a collection.

[Mirror Image]

I don´t have any of the Nonets (yet), but as regards the first one, H144, there´s this BIS CD 653:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/bohuslav-martinu-nonet-nonet-fragment-flute-trio-la-revue-de-cuisine-mw0001397211

The completist inside of me is kicking me, but I think I can refrain from buying this particular recording.

[snyprrr]

The completist inside of me is kicking me, but I think I can refrain from buying this particular recording.

You don't have the Nonet? :oReally?

That's standard issue Martinu, like the String Sextet.

[Josquin13]

Mirror Image writes, "Thanks for reminding me yet again. I do own that Nipponari (w/ Magic Nights, Czech Rhapsody) recording. I can't believe I forgot about listing it since it's one of my favorite recordings of anything! I just bought that Chuchro & Hala recording of the Cello Sonatas. You're a bad influence on me. Thanks for the recommendations."

My pleasure.  And thanks for your valuable list.  I don't own nearly as many Martinu recordings as you do, so I'll definitely copy it down & use it to guide my future listening to this wonderful composer.  I hope you enjoy the Chuchro/Hala recording.

[North Star]

You don't have the Nonet? :oReally?

That's standard issue Martinu, like the String Sextet.

That's the early Nonet No. 1 fragment. . .

[Karl Henning]

The completist inside of me is kicking me, but I think I can refrain from buying this particular recording.

Baby steps!  0:)   

[Mirror Image]

You don't have the Nonet? :oReally?

That's standard issue Martinu, like the String Sextet.

I own the Nonet (in two different recordings actually), but I do not own the early Nonet fragment.

[Mirror Image]

Mirror Image writes, "Thanks for reminding me yet again. I do own that Nipponari (w/ Magic Nights, Czech Rhapsody) recording. I can't believe I forgot about listing it since it's one of my favorite recordings of anything! I just bought that Chuchro & Hala recording of the Cello Sonatas. You're a bad influence on me. Thanks for the recommendations."

My pleasure.  And thanks for your valuable list.  I don't own nearly as many Martinu recordings as you do, so I'll definitely copy it down & use it to guide my future listening to this wonderful composer.  I hope you enjoy the Chuchro/Hala recording.

Thank you. I can't wait to hear that Chuchro/Hala recording.

[Mirror Image]

Baby steps!  0:)   

[Mirror Image]

I need another performance of each of these works like I need a hole in my head, but....I wonder how this disc is?

[arpeggio]

One of the things that I have learned is that it is impossible for a composer to compose a masterpiece every time.  I have a set of the complete works of Beethoven and there are some real dogs in there.

I can understand how some may have reservations over his symphonies.  Martinu has an extremely large catalogue and the symphonies are a very small part of it.  He has composed some outstanding chamber works.  I am particularly fond of the Flute Sonata. 

A few years ago our community orchestra performed his Concerto for Two Violins.  It was a fantastic experience.

[bhodges]

I need another performance of each of these works like I need a hole in my head, but....I wonder how this disc is?

It's quite good. I bought it mostly for the Double Concerto, but the other two pieces are well-done, too. That said, I can't offer any more details, since it's been awhile since I've heard this. (I always liked DePreist, who did some great work with the Helsinki Philharmonic in some of the Shostakovich symphonies.)

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

One of the things that I have learned is that it is impossible rare for a composer to compose a masterpiece every time.

FTFY 

[Mirror Image]

It's quite good. I bought it mostly for the Double Concerto, but the other two pieces are well-done, too. That said, I can't offer any more details, since it's been awhile since I've heard this. (I always liked DePreist, who did some great work with the Helsinki Philharmonic in some of the Shostakovich symphonies.)

--Bruce

Thanks, Bruce. I've always liked DePreist's conducting.

[Mirror Image]

One of the things that I have learned is that it is impossible for a composer to compose a masterpiece every time.  I have a set of the complete works of Beethoven and there are some real dogs in there.

I can understand how some may have reservations over his symphonies.  Martinu has an extremely large catalogue and the symphonies are a very small part of it.  He has composed some outstanding chamber works.  I am particularly fond of the Flute Sonata. 

A few years ago our community orchestra performed his Concerto for Two Violins.  It was a fantastic experience.

I certainly nod my head in agreement here. Some excellent points you've made for sure. I'll have to revisit the Flute Sonata.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Wohooo! New Martinu!



#morninglistening to @surprisedbeauty composer #Martinu on #mDG

Amazon: http://a-fwd.to/4eMLShx

Complete works for Cello and Orchestra w/#PetrNouzovsky, #PilsenPhilharmonic & #ThomasBrauner

#Martinů #classicalcdcollection #classicalmusic #classicalmu... http://ift.tt/2AMDfdB

[Mirror Image]

Wohooo! New Martinu!



#morninglistening to @surprisedbeauty composer #Martinu on #mDG

Amazon: http://a-fwd.to/4eMLShx

Complete works for Cello and Orchestra w/#PetrNouzovsky, #PilsenPhilharmonic & #ThomasBrauner

#Martinů #classicalcdcollection #classicalmusic #classicalmu... http://ift.tt/2AMDfdB

What do you think of this release thus far, Jens?

[Mirror Image]

Compositional Spotlight:

Oboe Concerto, H 353



The Concerto for Oboe and Small Orchestra was composed in April and May 1955 in Nice in the south of France. It was commissioned by the young Czech-Australian oboist Jiří Tancibudek, who at this time was beginning his international career. Martinů was glad to comply with the wish of his compatriot--a recent exile and, like him, a former member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra--even though there was not much money for the piece. He wanted to help Tancibudek begin his new career and succeeded in doing so.

Martinů, who in the productive year 1955 completed such contrasting works as the folk cantata The Opening of the Wells, the sacred oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, and the neo-impressionistic orchestral Les Fresques de Piero della Francesa, managed to create in this concerto a masterful synthesis of the most varied expressive positions of his late period. Tancibudek premiered the work in Sydney in August 1956 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. Since that time, this concerto has become a standard repertoire item for oboists all over the world.

O. F. Korte, editor of the present collection, considers the slow movement of Martinů's Oboe Concerto to be "in and of itself, already upon first listening, one of the few gems not only of concerto literature but of all music literature. What all can be expressed in such a relatively modest space! A song of a distant homeland? A song of renunciation? The painful beauty of the relentless truth of life as well as reconciled repose? Moments of confession or of philosophical summations? Perhaps. Who knows? Did the composer himself know, when in his everyday hard work he spouted out one note after another? What is certain for us is only that this music touches our hearts, our conscious and unconscious minds, our experiences and our knowledge, with dozens of ungraspable touches, associations, and reminders. These marks on paper have been magically invested with an extract of personal and universal human life experience. The composer's self-portrait, too, or, if you wish, perfectly-characterizing 'snapshot', an imprint of the soul, has been indelibly breathed into this music. It radiates human genuineness, emotional depth, purity, simplicity, wisdom, and nobility".

[http://database.martinu.cz/works/public_view/275]

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Certainly one of Martinů's finest concertos IMHO. Lyrical, high-spirited, and utterly gorgeous. My favorite performance is the Séquardt/Neumann on Supraphon, although there's been several other fine performances.