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Bohuslav MARTINŮ
(1890-1959)
6 Simple Songs, H.110 [6:51]
3 Lullabies, H.146bis [6:03]
2 Small Songs in Folk Idiom, H.14 [2:18]
2 Songs on Russian Poetry, H.135bis [3:34]
3 Goethelieder, H.94 [2:50]
The Gnat's Wedding, H.75 [1:16]
3 Children's Songs, H.146 [4:01]
Dead Love, H.44 [2:46]
Czech Riddles, H.277bis [4:39]
2 Songs, H.31 [4:10]
Walk, I Walk Among the Hills, H.74bis [1:37]
How Dear to Me the Hour, H.106 [2:35]
Blissfulness, H.81 [1:39]
Tears, H.41 [2:28]
Mood Drawing, H.29 [3:03]
A Girl's Dreams, H.22 [2:46]
When We are Both Old, H.10 [3:22]
Before You Know, H.6 [1:52]
Night after Night in Dreams I See You, H.57 [2:25]
Night (No. 3 of 3 Songs on French Texts), H.88 [1:42]
Life’s Over for Me, H.43 [2:27]
At Night, H.30 [5:54]
A Song of 1st November the First, H.72 [1:19]
Old Song, H.74 [2:27]
Song on an Old Spanish Text, H.87 [1:42]
A Song about Kissing, H.27bis [1:05]
I Know a Nice Green Grove, H.273 [1:22]
Jana Wallingerová (mezzo); Giorgio Koukl (piano)
rec. 15-17 March 2010, Koruni Studio, Prague
NAXOS 8.572588 [79:28] 
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Song was in important part of Martinů’s output, at
least in terms of the number of works. This disc is billed as
Volume 1; if further issues are as good as this one we are in
for a treat.
There are forty-one songs here, which even those as arithmetically
challenged as I am will easily see works out at an average of
less than two minutes per song. This is therefore a disc to
dip into, to listen to in small doses. Playing the whole disc
will, I fear, transform the recital into mere background music.
Of the vast number of songs and sets of songs Martinů composed,
the majority date from the beginning of his career. A fair number
of the songs on this disc were composed between the years 1910-1912.
Choice of texts in all these songs ranges widely, with many
settings of Czech writers, but also some foreign texts, including
Goethe and Heine, sometimes in translation, sometimes in the
original language. There are also numerous settings of traditional
Czech folk texts.
The Six Simple Songs are just as their title suggests.
Based on folk texts, these are short, melodious and irresistible.
Similar comments might be made about most of the programme,
and certainly about the following Three Lullabies, as
well as the second of the Two Small Songs in Folk Idiom,
with its surprising semitone shifts.
According to Mark Gresham’s booklet note, the Three
Goethelieder - over in less than three minutes - were settings
of Czech translations from the original German. They are certainly
sung in German here, however. Confusing! Truth to say, the essay
doesn’t do much to help the listener find a way though
this mass of material. This is a pity, since songs as short
as this can seem perfunctory, and there are so many of them,
and most of them so short, that listening alone could easily
give the impression that there isn’t much variety. A little
commentary on each song would help, and this, after all, is
what the insert notes should really be for. Then things are
rendered even more difficult by an error in the order of songs
30-37 as printed on the back cover and in the booklet. This
has apparently been corrected online since my colleague Byzantion
wrote his review, and listeners will now find the true order
there. Speaking of the programme as a whole, appreciation of
the songs without access to the texts is well-nigh impossible,
so listeners are urged to consult the online texts and translations,
inconvenient though it be for those of us who do not want to
sit at the computer whilst listening to music.
Other highlights of the programme, at least for this listener,
are The Goat’s Wedding, a Czech folk song, thoroughly
delightful, the stout piano part ideally suited to the melody,
and the sombre Dead Love. I also enjoy very much Czech
Riddles, a whole series of them in one, with an important
piano part, and which ends with the singer doing a passable
imitation of a crow! Tears and Mood Drawing are
also extremely affecting, though the waltz-like response to
Heine’s tale of love lost in Night after Night in Dreams
I See You is surprising and takes a little getting used
to. The recital ends with a striking invitation to us all to
sing the song three times before breakfast if we want our sins
forgiven.
Giorgio Koukl has already recorded a lot of Martinů for
Naxos, including the piano concertos. One would expect his playing
to be totally idiomatic, and so it is, and he also shows himself
to be a most sensitive accompanist. Jana Wallingerová
is a fine singer who manages beautifully to tone down a naturally
large voice for such pieces as the 3 Children’s Songs.
One or two pieces elsewhere might benefit from rather less sophisticated
delivery, but with a voice of this quality and singing of such
intelligence one looks forward to hearing her in other repertoire,
especially in longer works that will enable her to get into
her stride. She strives hard to follow the rules when singing
in a foreign language, and is quite successful, though her French,
in particular, betrays her at times. The recording is superbly
rich and lifelike, with an exemplary balance between voice and
piano.
William Hedley
see also review by Byzantion
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