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Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl

$19.99

Details

Composer
MARTINU, BOHUSLAV
Artist
Giorgio Koukl
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Feb 27, 2007
Catalog #
8557918
UPC
747313291823

About



A fascinating selection of Martinu's early piano works, plus two late trifles

In his classic biography of Martinu (Allen Wingate: 1962), Milos Šafránek states that in “the large and varied assortment of youthful works and experiments, Puppets holds a singular and significant place”. Composed in three sets between 1912 and 1924 (but published in reverse sequence; they are played here in chronological order), Puppets sounds anything but experimental now, though for Martinu’s hometown of Policka just after the Great War, the somewhat Satiesque charms of these 14 pieces must have seemed highly modern.

Heard with the innocent ear, most listeners would be hard put to identify the composer of Puppets and I suspect the same applies for another of the novelties here, the pretty, if flimsy, children’s suite Spring in the Garden (1920). This is no match for what Mark Gresham calls “the bold, jazzy and propulsive” Film en miniature (1925), one of the first products of Martinu’s Paris sojourn. The pearl of Koukl’s programme, though, is Butterflies and Birds of Paradise, written at Christmas of the same year as Spring in the Garden but light years ahead of it in quality. Here Martinu uses impressionism as if born to it.

Still, none of these early pieces, nor even The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon (1948, dedicated to Tcherepnin’s wife and the only work otherwise available) really sound like the mature Martinu. Only in the 29th and final track, The Booksellers of the Quai Malaquais (1948; dedicated to the composer’s wife) do we encounter one of those heart-stopping themes familiar from the symphonies. Koukl’s performances, occasionally a little over-robust, as in Butterflies, are very warmly recorded but this is a splendid disc despite that. Recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone [5/2007]

Tracklist 29 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Pierrotovo zastavenicko (Pierrot's Serenade) 01:42
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Pierrotovo zastavenicko (Pierrot's Serenade)
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  2. 2 No. 2. Valcik sentimentalni loutky (The Sentimental Puppet's Waltz) 02:27
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Valcik sentimentalni loutky (The Sentimental Puppet's Waltz)
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  3. 3 No. 3. Colombina (Columbine) 02:45
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Colombina (Columbine)
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  4. 4 No. 4. Ples loutek (Puppet Ball) 02:42
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Ples loutek (Puppet Ball)
    Duration
    02:42
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  5. 5 No. 1. Loutkove divadlo (Puppet Show) 02:08
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. Loutkove divadlo (Puppet Show)
    Duration
    02:08
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  6. 6 No. 2. Harlekyn (Harlequin) 01:47
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. Harlekyn (Harlequin)
    Duration
    01:47
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  7. 7 No. 3. Colombina vzpomina (Columbine Remembers) 02:54
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 3. Colombina vzpomina (Columbine Remembers)
    Duration
    02:54
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  8. 8 No. 4. Nemocna loutka (The Sick Puppet) 03:10
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 4. Nemocna loutka (The Sick Puppet)
    Duration
    03:10
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  9. 9 No. 5. Colombina zpiva (Columbine Sings) 02:58
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 5. Colombina zpiva (Columbine Sings)
    Duration
    02:58
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  10. 10 No. 1. Colombina tanci (Columbine Dances) 02:04
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 1. Colombina tanci (Columbine Dances)
    Duration
    02:04
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  11. 11 No. 2. Nova loutka (The New Puppet) (Shimmy) 01:26
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 2. Nova loutka (The New Puppet) (Shimmy)
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  12. 12 No. 3. Ostychava panenka (The Shy Puppet) 03:08
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 3. Ostychava panenka (The Shy Puppet)
    Duration
    03:08
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  13. 13 No. 4. Pohádka (Fairy-tale) 02:32
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 4. Pohádka (Fairy-tale)
    Duration
    02:32
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  14. 14 No. 5. Tanec loutek (Dance of The Puppets) 01:59
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 5. Tanec loutek (Dance of The Puppets)
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  15. 15 I. Tango 02:28
    Track
    15
    Title
    I. Tango
    Duration
    02:28
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  16. 16 II. Scherzo 01:30
    Track
    16
    Title
    II. Scherzo
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  17. 17 III. Ukolebavka (Berceuse) 03:47
    Track
    17
    Title
    III. Ukolebavka (Berceuse)
    Duration
    03:47
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  18. 18 IV. Valse 02:34
    Track
    18
    Title
    IV. Valse
    Duration
    02:34
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  19. 19 V. Chanson 01:26
    Track
    19
    Title
    V. Chanson
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  20. 20 VI. Carillon 01:37
    Track
    20
    Title
    VI. Carillon
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  21. 21 I. Co si ted budeme hrati? Na honenou? (What shall we play now? Tag?) 01:37
    Track
    21
    Title
    I. Co si ted budeme hrati? Na honenou? (What shall we play now? Tag?)
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  22. 22 II. Myslim, ze bych uz mel jit spat. (I think I should go to sleep now) 02:09
    Track
    22
    Title
    II. Myslim, ze bych uz mel jit spat. (I think I should go to sleep now)
    Duration
    02:09
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  23. 23 III. Proc bychom si nezahrali na vojaky. (Why shouldn't we play soldiers?) 01:41
    Track
    23
    Title
    III. Proc bychom si nezahrali na vojaky. (Why shouldn't we play soldiers?)
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  24. 24 IV. Neni to snad nic zleho, utrhnu-li si nekolik kvetin. (It isn't bad, is it, to pick a few flowers) 01:45
    Track
    24
    Title
    IV. Neni to snad nic zleho, utrhnu-li si nekolik kvetin. (It isn't bad, is it, to pick a few flowers)
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  25. 25 I. Motyli v kvetinach (Butterflies in flowers) 03:57
    Track
    25
    Title
    I. Motyli v kvetinach (Butterflies in flowers)
    Duration
    03:57
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  26. 26 II. Motyli a rajky (Butterflies and birds of paradise) 03:21
    Track
    26
    Title
    II. Motyli a rajky (Butterflies and birds of paradise)
    Duration
    03:21
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  27. 27 III. Rajky nad morem (Birds of paradise above the sea) 08:18
    Track
    27
    Title
    III. Rajky nad morem (Birds of paradise above the sea)
    Duration
    08:18
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  28. 28 The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, H. 318 02:57
    Track
    28
    Title
    The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, H. 318
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl
  29. 29 Les bouquinistes du Quai Malaquais, H. 319 01:31
    Track
    29
    Title
    Les bouquinistes du Quai Malaquais, H. 319
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
    Performer
    Giorgio Koukl