Czesław MAREK (1891-1985)
Violin Sonata, op.13 [23:48]
*Suite de 4 Morceaux, for violin & piano, op.18 [21:41]
Berceuse, for violin & piano, op.26 [3:01]
2 Pièces Romantiques, for harp, op.31 [8:54]
Ondine, for two harps, op.32 [6:54]
Rondeau, for four harps, op.33 [3:28]
Petite Suite in the treble clef, for piano, op.36a [8:03]
Canzone Solenelle & Gavotte in the Ancient Style, for cello & piano,
op.18a [8:39]
**Sérénade Italienne, for two pianos, op.16a [4:32]
**Annemarie, for two pianos, op.38a [6:51]
Marie-Catherine Girod (piano)
*Jitka Čechová (piano)
**Ludmila Janowska (piano II)
Ingolf Turban (violin)
Richard Jenkinson (cello)
Gabriella dall'Ollio, Catherine White, Patrizia Maier, Hugh Webb (harps)
rec. St George's Church, Bristol, England, 1998. DDD
GUILD GMCD 7362/3 [48:30 + 47:21]
This release by Swiss label Guild of an assortment of chamber and solo works
by Polish-Swiss composer Czesław Marek is in fact a re-issue, as the
recording date suggests. It is a composite re-issue, in that the two CDs are
a compilation from different discs previously published by the now lost Austrian
label Koch Schwann in a multi-disc series that was universally praised at
the time (other discs in that series: review
review).
There is, therefore, a unity of quality and performance in the recordings
reproduced here in a convenient and reasonably priced package.
The first disc groups together the three works for violin and piano, including
the slight but highly expressive Berceuse, dedicated "A ma femme". The notes
describe the Violin Sonata op.13 as Marek's most important chamber work, and
it was also his first - the implication being not that his music went downhill
afterwards, but rather that his corpus of works was fairly small; in fact,
he had more or less stopped composing by the time he was fifty. Like virtually
all Marek's music, the generally sunny Violin Sonata is a lyrical work of
considerable pathos, betraying no sign of its First World War backdrop. Much
the same may be said of the unonstentatiously virtuosic Suite de 4 Morceaux
op.18, which Marek also dedicated to his wife, the violinist Claire Hofer.
The second and third movements are entitled Canzone Solenelle and Gavotte
in the Ancient Style, two pieces which Marek later adapted as his op.18a,
recorded on disc 2 (see below).
On the second disc pride of place rightly goes to the three works for harp,
although two are arrangements of other composers' pieces: Ondine, is Marek's
fashioning for two harps of a movement from Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, whilst
Rondeau is an arrangement for four harps of a section of Rameau's Les Tourbillons.
And here Marek has made a thing of beauty out of Rameau's already delightful
tune - no listener will get past this without replaying it immediately! it
may seem rather cheeky for Marek to give the works an opus number of his own,
but they are much more than mere transcriptions. The one original, the two
Romantic Pieces that make up his opus 31, are "open confessions to French
impressionism", as the booklet notes put it - an epithet that applies almost
equally to Ondine. Coincidentally or not, a motif in the first Piece is very
reminiscent of the Rondeau. Such a pity, on this all too brief evidence, that
Marek did not write more for harp!
The Petite Suite for solo piano was written with young - talented - amateurs
in mind, with both hands remaining in the treble clef throughout. More of
Marek's piano works are available on a companion disc released in August 2011
(Guild GMCD 7364/65). Meanwhile, his only two works for two pianos are both
transcriptions of other pieces: the dreamy, lilting Sérénade
Italienne is the slow movement of his Sinfonietta op.16, and the last work
on this double album, Annemarie, is from one of Marek's own songs, and shows
the composer in lighter mode - the piece is aptly subtitle 'Jazz-Humoreske'.
Finally, there is nothing solemn about the ravishingly mellow Canzone Solenelle
that goes with a jaunty, ironically titled Gavotte in the Ancient Style to
make up Marek's op.18a for cello and piano. This work belongs more naturally
on the first disc with the Suite op.18, but even rather randomly breaking
up the piano pieces as it does, it is lovely music to anyone's ears.
Sound quality is pretty good throughout. The English-German booklet is well
designed and informative. Its only real slip-up is its failure to indicate
unambiguously which soloists play the one and two-harp works. None of the
performers in these recordings is particularly high-profile, but these are
all interpretations from the high end of the spectrum, especially Ingolf Turban
and Jitka Čechová's sustained team effort.
Marek's post-war descent into relative oblivion is very puzzling. This good
quality double CD is an important move towards his musical resurrection.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Marek's post-war descent into relative oblivion is very puzzling.