Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)

[Mirror Image]

But . . .

I perceive a disharmony here . . . .

Yes, but I did a side-by-side comparison last night of Neumann's 4th and Thomson's 4th. Thomson's won. Opinions can change, Karl.

[Mirror Image]

Caught up in the fever of the Weird Head Revival . . . I've found the Neumann set at a good price . . . .

Excellent, Karl. Which Martinu symphony sets have you heard/own?

[cilgwyn]

By dinasman at 2012-05-07

Take me to you're record player,Earthman!
Wierd heads at Haverfordwest library,Pembrokeshire c1977/78.

[Mirror Image]

By dinasman at 2012-05-07

Take me to you're record player,Earthman!
Wierd heads at Haverfordwest library,Pembrokeshire c1977/78.

What's the deal with those weird heads anyway?

[Scion7]

Just one of those great Supraphon covers w/noisy LP vinyl pressings inside - argh - but the performances that company almost always had made up for the commie vinyl pressing plant.

[Mirror Image]

Just one of those great Supraphon covers w/noisy LP vinyl pressings inside - argh - but the performances that company almost always had made up for the commie vinyl pressing plant.

Thankfully, the CD era has been kind to Martinu.

[Scion7]

But they don't repro the original LP covers - let alone get them at the original size.  This is my edition of the Suk/Neumann violin concertos.
Martinu and Suk knew each other pretty well.  As usual, Suk's superlative playing is a joy to hear.

[cilgwyn]

What's the deal with those weird heads anyway?

Sorry,MI! I just got a bit carried away. Apart from personal nostalgia,the point is,the design grabbed my teenage attention & I took the Lps out of the library! Curiously,and by sheer coincidence,the space-y,Supraphon sleeve designs coincided with a flurry of ufo & spaceman sightings in our local newspapers. They even published two books about it,at the time ('The Broad Haven triangle')
Not that I'm 'into' that sort of thing,of course!
  And yes,the LP pressings were a bit 'swishy/noisy',but the exciting performances won through!

[Mirror Image]

Sorry,MI! I just got a bit carried away. Apart from personal nostalgia,the point is,the design grabbed my teenage attention & I took the Lps out of the library! Curiously,and by sheer coincidence,the space-y,Supraphon sleeve designs coincided with a flurry of ufo & spaceman sightings in our local newspapers. They even published two books about it,at the time ('The Broad Haven triangle')
Not that I'm 'into' that sort of thing,of course!
  And yes,the LP pressings were a bit 'swishy/noisy',but the exciting performances won through!

Ah yes, the attractions of youth.

[Mirror Image]

But they don't repro the original LP covers - let alone get them at the original size.  This is my edition of the Suk/Neumann violin concertos.
Martinu and Suk knew each other pretty well.  As usual, Suk's superlative playing is a joy to hear.

That's a great recording IMHO. I think I'll listen to it tonight.

[Drasko]

By dinasman at 2012-05-07

Take me to you're record player,Earthman!
Wierd heads at Haverfordwest library,Pembrokeshire c1977/78.

Supraphon re-used that cover in CD era, but for different recording: Neumann's digital remake of 3rd and 6th.

[cilgwyn]

Re-cycled for the remake! They must have liked it. Are the newer recordings any good?

[Drasko]

Re-cycled for the remake! They must have liked it. Are the newer recordings any good?

I prefer them to older ones.

[Scion7]

             click image to enlarge


The Violin Concerto No 2 was commissioned by Mishca Elman (1891–1967), a famous American violinist of Ukrainian origin. The work's main characteristics recall the qualities of Elman's playing, notably his unique sound, his preference for noble and elegant melodies, his exceptional feeling for the sonority of his instrument, his love of slow tempos, and his rich use of rubato and portamento.

      from the New Grove:

(b Talnoye, 20 Jan 1891; d New York, 5 April 1967). American violinist of Russian birth. He studied in Odessa with A. Fiedemann (1897–1902), then he was discovered by Auer, who taught him at the St Petersburg Conservatory (1903–4). Elman's meteoric career began in Berlin on 14 October 1904; sensational débuts in London (21 March 1905) and in New York (10 December 1908) followed, and he quickly established himself as one of the great violinists. He settled in the USA in 1911 and became a citizen in 1923, but his tours took him around the world. In 1926 he founded the Elman String Quartet. During the 1936–7 season he presented five concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall, 'The Development of Violin Literature', in which he played more than 15 concertos. Martinu composed his concerto for Elman, who gave its first performance in 1944. Elman's popularity was enhanced by his gramophone records, of which more than two million were sold.
Elman's most glorious attribute was his rich, sensuous and infinitely expressive tone, which became legendary. His temperament was fiery and passionate, and there was a pulsating vitality in his playing. His improvisational style was best suited to the Romantic repertory, but with maturity his exuberance became tempered. His technique was reliable without being a dominant factor in his success. He composed a few short pieces, and made many arrangements. A Mischa Elman Chair for Violin Studies was established at the Manhattan School of Music in 1974 by Elman's widow, Helen Elman.

     from AllMusic Guide:

Elman was the second prodigy pupil of Leopold Auer (after Efrem Zimbalist) to become internationally famous before adolescence. Their Hungarian-born teacher—a student of Joachim and subsequent mentor of Toscha Seidel, Jascha Heifetz and Nathan Milstein—was appointed professor of violin at the St. Petersburg Imperial Conservatory in 1868. He remained until the Revolution, then moved to the U.S. In 1878, Tchaikovsky dedicated his violin concerto to Auer, but withdrew the honor when the latter declared it "unplayable." Later on, Auer recanted, performed the work repeatedly, and made a point of teaching it to all his students including Elman, who came to cherish it as his own.

Mischa was 11 when his father brought him to Auer, vacationing in Odessa, where the family had moved to further the boy's natural talent. When he played Paganini's 24th Caprice and the Wieniawski Second Concerto, Auer insisted the Imperial Conservatory accept him immediately. In St. Petersburg, Mischa gave private concerts for arts patrons, one of whom, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, gave him an Amati violin. Progress was so rapid that Auer decided Mischa should play a concert in Berlin (where a 10-year-old protégé of Joachim had created a sensation in 1903).

On October 13, 1904, the day before his debut, Elman played privately for Joachim, who could only manage to say, "I am speechless." Not so the audience, which cheered the 13-year-old phenomenon. In 1905 he took England by storm, and joined Nellie Melba and Enrico Caruso in a concert at Buckingham Palace for Edward VII and Alfonso of Spain. Called "the greatest violinist in the world" by London critics, Elman made his American debut in Carnegie Hall on December 10, 1908—one month shy of his 17th birthday—playing the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Russian Symphony Society of New York. Victor Records promptly signed him to a contract (salon music mainly, played with impeccable intonation and rich tone, but with nineteenth century mannerisms forever retained). Elman also made a series of recordings with Caruso and Frances Alda, and excerpts from works by Dittersdorf, Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert with an "Elman String Quartet." By 1912, he had appeared with every major U.S. orchestra, including 31 performances with the Boston Symphony! By 1913, his annual record royalties were $35,000 [$811,000 in today's money value], and in 1916 Carl Sandburg wrote a paean to his playing entitled Bath.

Then Heifetz, who was Auer's masterpiece, made his American debut in Carnegie Hall on October 27, 1917. He was 16, a decade younger than Elman. Elman asked his box-partner at intermission, "Isn't it getting hot in here?" "Not for pianists," Leopold Godowsky famously replied. Elman continued touring far and wide, but a supernova (Heifetz) had usurped his celebrity—a technician nonpareil, a musician in the "modern" tradition, although Elman continued to be celebrated as "the violinist with the golden tone."

In 1926, Vitaphone made a six-minute "full-sound" film of him playing Dvorák and Gossec. Then came concerto recordings: his first Tchaikovsky in 1929, others later, although he didn't make a complete sonata recording until after WWII. In 1951, Elman switched to London Decca, recording concertos conducted by Boult, the young Solti, and Krips (Mozart with treacle). The last decade found him recording in Vienna for Vanguard, but never the Martinu Second Concerto he commissioned in 1943—only Khachaturian's populist artifact.

[Scion7]

      an interesting historical note from the NAXOS liner notes:

The sea fantasy Rujana, H.100 (1916), derives its title from the Slavic name for Rügen, Germany's largest island, located on the Baltic Sea. The Rujanes, who settled on the island in the seventh century, were western Slavic peoples. Beginning in 1815, when it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, bathing resorts were established, and Rügen became the most famous holiday destination of Germany until World War II. Following German reunification in 1990, it regained that status. The island's extensive chalk cliffs were portrayed in the famous painting Kreidefelsen auf Rügen (1818) by Caspar David Friedrich.

Pianist Giorgio Koukl presented the world-première performance of Rujana in the RSI studios, in preparation for his première recording on NAXOS Piano Music (Complete), Vol. 4.

Hope the size of the image didn't startle anyone with a pacemaker.   

[snyprrr]

      an interesting historical note from the NAXOS liner notes:

The sea fantasy Rujana, H.100 (1916), derives its title from the Slavic name for Rügen, Germany's largest island, located on the Baltic Sea. The Rujanes, who settled on the island in the seventh century, were western Slavic peoples. Beginning in 1815, when it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia, bathing resorts were established, and Rügen became the most famous holiday destination of Germany until World War II. Following German reunification in 1990, it regained that status. The island's extensive chalk cliffs were portrayed in the famous painting Kreidefelsen auf Rügen (1818) by Caspar David Friedrich.

Pianist Giorgio Koukl presented the world-première performance of Rujana in the RSI studios, in preparation for his première recording on NAXOS Piano Music (Complete), Vol. 4.

Hope the size of the image didn't startle anyone with a pacemaker.   

OOOO...Ahhhh...

nice!

[eyeresist]

That image is ridiculously large.

[Karl Henning]

Three cheers for the Field Mass! (Well . . . you get the idea.)

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Time to revive this thread...

I've been having a bit of a Martinu marathon tonight. I even changed my avatar in honor of this great composer. If I remember correctly, when I first joined this forum, I was going through a Martinu phase that had spilled over from my membership on another classical forum.

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Does anybody know Martinu's cause of death? I can't seem to find it anywhere.