Conlon returns to Martinů
after inspired and consistent work for
Zemlinsky through a series of EMI Classics
CDs - those Zemlinskys really should
be reissued in a box. He has also done
invaluable work for Schulhoff and Hartmann
on Capriccio. I say return
to
Martinů because he recorded
two valuable Erato CDs with French forces
in the 1980s though the achievement
was slightly undermined by a warmly
cocooned sound-image. They’re still
available as a twofer on Warner Ultima
3984 24238 2 and you can read
a review of one of the two discs
issued separately on Apex .
The sound for the Lidice
Memorial has a powerful and suave
bass response much in evidence and a
singing gleam from the violins. I
had never noticed the harmonium emulations
until now. Martinů seems to have
looked to Barber’s Adagio
as a mood-model - he would certainly
have heard it by 1943. Also fascinating
are the pre-echoes of Vaughan Williams’
Sinfonia Antartica. The fateful
and brassy Beethovenian anger at 7:10
is also well caught reminding me of
his Fifth Symphony which also carries
echoes of Beethoven.
The Concertino for
piano trio and string orchestra is in
four fleeting movements. The first and
the last are pell-mell with the piano
set back more than I had expected. There
is a touch of Hungarian mania about
the violin solos. The part quirky, part
endearing Moderato recalls Tippett
in the Concerto for Double String Orchestra
and this returns in the finale. In the
oppressive Adagio finale a peppery
folk-style enters the proceedings as
well as a tragic and sometimes dissonant
seriousness you might not be ready for
after the busy first movement.
There
is a competing Martinů Centaur
CD of the Concertino on CRC 2415 with
the two Piano Trios and the Duo
No. 2 for violin and cello. The Trio
Tulsa are joined by the Czech National
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul
Freeman. The performances are admirable
and I have already praised them (review)
but the disc mixes chamber and orchestra
and is not as generous as the all-orchestral
Capriccio SACD.
The composer said of
the much-recorded Rhapsody-Concerto
(for viola and orchestra) that
it represented a return to phantasy
after infatuations with geometry. Certainly
you can hear geometry in the Concerto
and the Concertino although neither
is devoid of emotional expression. The
Rhapsody-Concerto is a piercingly
lyrical late work deeply imbued with
a nostalgia for the Old Country from
which he was, to all intents and purposes,
exiled. It is fitting that the piece
ends with a sigh.
The Rhapsody-Concerto
has been recorded before. The violists
include Lubomir Maly on Panton 81 1204-2
from 1979; Rivka Golani on Conifer CDCF
2100 in 1987, Nobuko Imai on Bis in
1990 on BIS CD 501 and in 1987 by Josef
Suk on Supraphon 11 1969-2 011. There
are probably others too. The Maly remains
a force to be reckoned with if only
you could track it down but the sound
is nowhere near as transparent as is
achieved by the Capriccio team.
Martinů
wrote both a Concerto and a Concertino
for piano trio and both date from 1933.
The Concerto for Piano Trio
may well be receiving its recorded premiere
here. The first movement launches with
lunging playing from the orchestral
strings. At first I suspected
a reversion to Martinů’s heartless
Parisian style but there is an emotional
weight - that poignant yearning carried
by the solo violin as for example at
1:41 and at 4:00 (the latter reminiscent
of Villa-Lobos) in the first movement.
The impressively serious Andante
is heavy with tragic substance and
shows that the Concerto for two string
orchestras, piano and timpani (1938)
did not spring from nowhere. The Scherzo
is rhythmically incisive carrying the
exhilarating imprint of Bach and this
is followed by a busily patterned Moderato.
The Concerto should, on the strength
of the Andante alone, be heard
more often.
The perspective of
soloists as against the orchestral body
is very pleasingly contrived. The documentation
by Norbert Hornig is of similar quality.
In any event this is
the first time all four of these works
have been harnessed on disc and you
get a Lidice of
searing intensity - more telling even
than Ančerl’s classic and a striking
discovery in the shape of the Piano
Trio Concerto. Rare and not so rare
Martinů, extremely well played
and recorded. Martinů enthusiasts
should go for this one as of course
should piano trio members on the lookout
for substantial additions to the repertoire.
Rob Barnett
Gürzenich Orchestra/James Conlon 
CAPRICCIO CC 71 053 [70:27] 
for
details 
