Search
Special Offers
Awards
Online Payment
Visit us
Presto News - 25th May 2009Two recent re-discoveries light up Martinu year |
 One composer anniversary that seems to have largely slipped under the radar so far this year is that of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, who died fifty years ago this year. He was a prolific composer who wrote fifteen operas, fourteen ballet scores, six symphonies, numerous concertos, as well as a large amount of chamber and vocal music. I like Martinu’s music very much and with two important new releases out this week I thought I’d seize the opportunity to tell you a bit more about him.  Bohuslav Martinu After his early training at the Prague Conservatoire and playing 2nd Violin in Vaclav Talich’s Czech Philharmonic Orchestra he moved to Paris in 1923 thanks to a modest grant from the Czechoslovakian government. His intended three-month stay turned into 17 years until the Nazi occupation of France drove him off to his American exile in 1941. He settled in New York with his French wife where he composed a great deal and also taught composition. He spent the last few years of his life in Switzerland where he died in 1959, having never returned to his homeland. I always find it interesting to see how a change in location affects the stylistic output of a composer, and Martinu’s move to Paris signalled a big change in his style as he immediately abandoned the Romantic style in which he had been taught and started experimenting with things like neo-classicism and also jazz idioms. His first truly great compositions date from this period, but his First String Trio (the first major piece he wrote in Paris) disappeared soon after the first performance and until recently was thought lost. Thankfully it was discovered a couple of years ago and has now finally been recorded (released today) along with a selection of his other chamber music. The whole disc is beautifully recorded by the Ensemble Calliopée with pianist Karine Lethiec. I’ve put the last movement of the recently discovered String Trio for you to listen to below – it is really attractive and exciting music. Another recent re-discovery is the subject of the second important new release I mentioned at the outset. After the 1938 Prague premiere of his opera Julietta Martinu decided to try and gain the work further publicity by translating three fragments into French and putting them together to form a forty minute work. This he hoped would be performed and recorded on French Radio and hopefully lead to further performances of the opera. Unfortunately this never happened and with Martinu leaving France soon afterwards the Three Fragments were never performed. They finally turned up again in 2007 and are recorded here for the first time with the stunning Magdalena Kožená in the title role accompanied by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras. It is a really outstanding release and for those unfamiliar with Martinu’s operas it would also work very well as an introduction to the genre.
|
Share
|
 Martinu - Chamber MusicEnsemble Calliopée, Karine Lethiec
|
 Martinu - Music from the opera JulietteMagdalena Kožená (Juliette), Steve Davislim (Michel), Frédéric Goncalves, Michéle Lagrange & Nicolas Testé, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras
|
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
listen - Martinu - String Trio No. 1, H.136 - (Poco Allegro)New Releases25th May 2009 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Shostakovich: The NoseMariinsky Orchestra & Chorus, Valery GergievDmitri Shostakovich's satirical opera The Nose was premièred in 1930 and set in St Petersburg. Based on a short story by Nikolai Gogol, its absurd plot revolves around the exploits of a pompous government official and his nose. After a visit to the barber, the nose absconds from the man's face and takes on a life of its own; the pretentious bureaucrat is reduced to desperation, frantically searching the city for his lost appendage. Although primarily a comic opera, The Nose touches on the struggle between the individual and society (here portrayed by a cast of over 80 characters), and its spiky score is a 1920's modernist masterpiece from the prodigiously talented young composer. |
 Purcell: The complete FantaziasFretworkThe Fantazia for consort of viols is one of the glories of English music, and this unique repertoire, spreading over nearly two centuries, represents the loftiest and most perfect kind of instrumental chamber music written in Europe before the era of the classical string quartet. In his Fantazias for viol, the young Henry Purcell put into practice all he had absorbed in the course of his technical and stylistic training.These pieces are a perfect illustration of his avowed ambition to surpass all his contemporaries. |
 Poulenc: Gloria & Ravel: Daphnis et ChloéJessica Rivera (soprano), Chicago Symphony Chorus & Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Bernard HaitinkThe Chicago Symphony Chorus takes centre stage in two gorgeous French works from the 20th century on CSO Resound's newest release. The 150-voice choir, under the direction of chorus director Duain Wolfe, sings Poulenc's effervescent update of the latin Gloria with astonishing sensitivity and is the orchestra's dynamic equal in Ravel's ballet showpiece. Rising American soprano Jessica Rivera, known internationally for her performances in operas by John Adams and Osvaldo Golijov, made her CSO debut in the concerts in which this album was recorded. CSO Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink lends his gravity to these flamboyant works, allowing us to hear their inner workings as freshly as their composers imagined in the first French CD on CSO Resound, and the first Haitink release that isn't a gigantic symphony. |
 The Voice of Late ChopinMaria Joao Pires (piano)Maria João Pires, an icon for DG, returned to the recording studio in January 2008. This new recital of works by Chopin will renew interest in the pianist and will certainly be welcomed by her large number of fans, who have eagerly awaited such a new release. Pires’s recording of Chopin’s Complete Nocturnes was a best-seller with worldwide sales exceeding 260,000 album units. |
 21st Century Cello ConcertosJean Guihen Queyras (cello)Three composers, three masterworks of our time, performed by three orchestras - and a central figure, the moving spirit behind this fine project devoted to the concertante cello: Jean-Guihen Queyras, voted Artist of the Year 2008 in Diapason. Three sometimes very different, yet at the same time highly complementary ways of conceiving the concerto in the 21st century. Long a soloist with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Jean-Guihen Queyras was profoundly influenced by working with Pierre Boulez. His discography, distinguished by a musical eclecticism, includes works by Haydn (on period instruments) as well as Dvorák and 20th-century composers. |
 Bach, J S: The Art of Fugue, BWV1080Vittorio Ghielmi (viola da gamba), Lorenzo Ghielmi (fortepiano) & Marcello Gatti (flute), Il Suonar ParlanteAfter several years of research Vittorio Ghielmi together with his viol consort Il Suonar Parlante and Lorenzo Ghielmi, acknowledged Bach interpreter and expert, present a new reading of Bach's masterpiece.The latest musicological studies and Lorenzo Ghielmi' s own research put an end to the Romantic myth of the unfinished opus, reveal a 'solution' of Contrapunctus 14 and present Bach's Art of Fugue in a stirring interpretation, using a Silbermann piano, the only pianoforte Bach used during his lifetime. Ghielmi and Ghielmi present an artistic approach which convincingly unites baroque and contemporary interpretation. |
 Schumann - Piano Works & Chamber Music VIIEric Le Sage, Frank Braley & Denis Pascal (pianos)For Robert Schumann 'childhood' is inspired by his love for Clara, younger by almost ten years, for whom he composed the major part of his piano works, amongst them Kinderszenen, two Albums fur die Jugend, the Vierhandige Klavier-Stucke fur kleine und große kinder, a Kinderball and Klavier Sonaten für die Jugend. The 7th volume of Eric le Sage's complete Schumann: a set of rare quality, not to be missed, graciously assisted by Denis Pascal & Frank Braley, both Romantic piano specialists. |
 Mussorgsky & Borodin - DVDBerlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Simon RattleA true celebration, ushering in the New Year with one of the finest orchestras and greatest conductors in the world. The 2007 Gala from Berlin features the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle in Alexander Borodin's Second Symphony, a richly lyrical work of immense poetic grandeur and fairytale magic, in a programme that also includes one of the greatest classical hits ever: Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Ravel. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 23rd May 2009 |
Building a Library - Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5 |
 First Choice(1953 - coupled with Scriabin & Schmidt)Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos |
 Modern Recommendation(2001 - coupled with Varèse: Amériques)Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zoltán Kocsis |
 Modern Recommendation(1991 - coupled with Schoenberg's Violin and Piano Concertos, and Variations for Orchestra Op.31)Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez |
Disc of the Week |
 Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante, K364(coupled with Violin Concertos 1 & 3)Renaud Capucon (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Louis Langrée |
Your details will be used only in accordance with our Privacy Policy. |
Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.