Cheap Martinu: Overture; Rhapsody; Sinfonia concertante; Concerto grosso; Parables (Music) (Bohuslav Martinu, Jiri Belohlavek, Jaroslava Saroun, Karel Ruzicka) Price
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| ARTIST: | Bohuslav Martinu, Jiri Belohlavek, Jaroslava Saroun, Karel Ruzicka |
| CATEGORY: | Music |
| MANUFACTURER: | Supraphon |
| TYPE: | Classical, Orchestral & Symphonic |
| MEDIA: | Audio CD |
| UPC: | 675754660925 |
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Customer Reviews of Martinu: Overture; Rhapsody; Sinfonia concertante; Concerto grosso; Parables
Excellent performances of lesser-known Martinu This disc collects digital recordings from the late 1980s of five lesser-known works of Bohuslav Martinu: the Rhapsody of 1929, the Sinfonia concertante of 1932, the Concerto grosso of 1937, the Overture of 1953 and The Parables, from 1958, the year before the composer's death.
The Rhapsody is very much in the realm of the works Martinu was writing for large orchestra in the late 1920s: Half-Time and La Bagarre, for example. It's a rhythmically dense, heavily orchestrated and slightly over-the-top 12 minutes, but it's also fun. Occasionally signs of Martinu's mature concerto grosso-type style poke through the textures, but this isn't by any means a mature work.
The Sinfonia concertante for two orchestras is a major step forwards. It's a largely neoclassical work in the traditional four-movement symphonic form: a rhythmic, dynamic first movement, a scherzo with driving rhythms, a slow movement and a vigorous finale. Perhaps there is too much of an emphasis in motoric rhythms and dissonance in this work (though it's 100% tonal)--I found the style a little unremitting, particularly as the slow movement (unusually for Martinu) lacks a good tune.
The Concerto grosso is, again, a major advance on the previous work. It's written--like the more famous Tre ricercari--for a chamber orchestra with two pianos, and is in a fast-slow-fast format. The driving rhythms are a little less aggressive than in the Sinfonia concertante, the melodies more prominent (particularly at the beginning and end of the slow movement), the harmony less dissonant. This is clearly the mature Martinu style, and even if the first movement tends to be a bit predictable, the subsequent movements just get better and better the longer they go on.
The Overture is just an occasional piece. It sounds like it wasn't meant to be very serious: the melodies and rhythms are, frankly, rather cheesy, and the development of the material is unsubtle. However, it's put across with a level of panache that at least negates some of my criticisms of it.
The final work on the disc, The Parables, is a bona fide masterpiece, the only one on the disc. This is in Martinu's full-blown rhapsodic late style, and is a wonderful fount of lyrical Eastern European melody, beautiful harmonies and delightful orchestration. The finale, with its repeating drum rhythms, is one of the most exhilharating pieces in Martinu's output.
Of these works, only The Parables can be described as essential Martinu, but none of the pieces on this disc should disappoint a listener with an interest in this sort of music. Jiri Belohlavek is surely one of best conductors of Czech music today, and directs consistently fine performances, though I still marginally prefer the outstanding Karel Ancerl in The Parables.