Fantaisie et Toccata (1940)
Eight Preludes (1929)
Piano Sonata (1954)
Dumka No. 3(1941)
The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon (1948)
Bagatelle (1949)
The three Bekova sisters have already given us, courtesy of Chandos, a complete
cycle of the three Martinu trios. Now Eleonora Bekova has recorded a selection
(it could have been longer) of the piano music - largely from Martinu's later
years. It is not labelled volume 1. No doubt Chandos will be watching the
sales - which deserve to be good - even allowing for the one hour playing
time.
The Fantaisie et Toccata was written during the Martinus' flight from
Paris with Rudolf Firkusny. That sense of the hunt and loss pervades the
music even during those irresistible passages where Martinu's hallmark of
air-lofted energy takes wing. The driven and steely-eyed glint of the toccata
is most impressive.
The preludes come from another and less turbulent world: the Paris of the
early 1930s. The first of the eight is a capsule of time-slowed clocks. The
second is a nervy stalk through the jungle. The third inhabits the dream-world
of the opera Julietta. The fourth hops and skips like a gerbil on
cinders. The fifth is a meandering capriccio with some nervy Lambertisms.
The sixth is a cloudy largo and the seventh a presto étude
seeming to have been written for a player piano. The final prelude is a dizzying
roustabout dance.
Piano Sonata has considerable meditative power which at 0.58 (in I) almost
launches into Medtner. The music is often ripplingly changeful with a vivid
sense of fantasy. The second movement's initially quiet music is followed
by a mix of buzzing activity and Beethovenian moonlight. The finale is stern
and harsher-toned; plagued with dissonant alarm bells rung from Martinu's
childhood church clock-tower. The work ends rather conventionally.
Finally three characterful bonne-bouches. Dumka 3 breathes innocence
and simplicity rather like an uncomplicated piece by Fauré. The
Fifth Day's has an agreeable hint of Chinoiserie paralleling the work
of Constant Lambert in his Li Po settings. The Bagatelle reels with
Bachian chimes.
Ms Bekova seems completely engaged by this music and is alive to the Martinu's
imagination and articulates his dream. All we need to do is to listen and
that is no hardship at all. warmly commended.
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
Eleonora
Bekova (piano)
