Bohuslav Martinů - Early Orchestral Works Vol. 3 (Ian Hobson)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů

• Vanishing Midnight, H 131
• Ballade (after Böcklin’s picture Villa by the Sea), H 97
• Dream of the Past, H 124

Agnieszka Kopacka, piano

Sinfonia Varsovia

Ian Hobson, conductor

Date: 2018

Label: Toccata

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

Both previous releases in this series have been, to some extent, exploratory and revelatory in charting the context of Martinů’s early musical development but this latest release has strong claims to being the most important yet.

The major work is Vanishing Midnight, a symphonic triptych of 1922. Its performance history is meagre. Talich conducted the central movement in concert and there seems to have been another performance a few years later but since then there has been silence, until now. The work represents a moment of crux in Martinů’s direction. One can feel the sustained influences of impressionism and in places of Richard Strauss but, as Talich himself noted, it also shows ‘a leap and and not a step’ forward for the composer. If the first panel’s title, Satyrs in the Grove of Cypresses, suggests a votary and voluptuary element à la Szymanowski the reality is rather different with an atmospheric first section and a celebratory second, a luscious solo violin emerging over winds and horns. Full of subtle orchestration and incident, the central movement owes a debt to Debussy but also reveals an independent streak in its exciting dynamism, its structural cohesion, and a sense of narrative destiny in the music-making. It’s this last element, in particular, that suggests a lineage with those later works such as Parables and Estampes. With its almost frantic drama the final panel of the work moves from agitation to pessimism, the work ending on a rather haunting note, though along the way some typical cadences emerge as well as possibly sublimated Scriabinesque elements too. I think it is undeniable that the older composer would have subjected so rich and evocative a work to revision and pruning, but it’s an index of his development and thus, I have to say, a must-hear for real devotees.

The Ballade is yet another musical composition that looks to the artist Böcklin for inspiration, in this case the picture Villa by the Sea. (Toccata reproduces a black and white photograph in the booklet.) It’s the only surviving moment from a set of Symphonic Dances. There’s a charged atmosphere throughout, and adept use of the piano – perhaps its use incarnates the lone young woman in the picture gazing out to sea, the orchestra representing the elements - and also some Mahlerian-like touches, though this may be more a shared Moravian inheritance. The glowering elemental power also includes Straussian touches, it’s true, but given the 1915 composition date this isn’t especially surprising.

Dream of the Past (1920) once made it to a Panton LP recorded in Olomouc, and this yearning Debussian tone poem cum rhapsody is full of ripe sonorities and textures. It’s a work of drama and refinement which, as Michael Crump suggests in his notes, sounds improvisatory.

Crump’s booklet note is packed full of pertinent musico-biographical detail and he goes into rich detail about the works, through typos regarding track numbering mean you’ll need to keep your wits about you. The vivid contributions of the Sinfornia Varsovia and Ian Hobson ensure the disc’s success.

— Jonathan Woolf

-----------------------------------------------------------

Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He was a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. Martinů was a prolific composer who wrote almost 400 pieces. Many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, his six symphonies, concertos, chamber music, a flute sonata, a clarinet sonatina and many others. Martinů's notable students include Alan Hovhaness, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Jan Novák and many others.

***

Ian Hobson (born 1952 in Wolverhampton) is an English pianist, conductor and teacher. Educated at prestigious institutions including the Royal Academy of Music and Yale University, he made his London debut in 1979 and U.S. debut in 1983. Hobson won silver medals at the Arthur Rubinstein and Vienna-Beethoven competitions and first prize at the 1981 Leeds Competition. Since then he has performed globally and is increasingly sought after as a conductor, often combining this role with piano performance. Active in the recording studio, Hobson has made over 60 recordings. He teaches at the University of Illinois.

-----------------------------------------------------------