Bohuslav Martinů - Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4 (Giorgio Koukl)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů

• Piano Concerto No. 4, H. 358, 'Incantation'
• Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, H. 149
• Piano Concerto No. 2, H. 237

Giorgio Koukl, piano

Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, Zlín

Arthur Fagen, conductor

Date: 2010

Label: Naxos

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

Review

Koukl’s splendid coupling of the Third and Fifth Concertos (3/10) has rightly drawn warm praise and this next instalment in his revelatory series of Martinù’s piano music carries on where the previous one left off. The same clarity and precision of touch is evident in his playing throughout, allied to a natural musicality and a positive sense of structure shared by conductor Arthur Fagen, who supports in exemplary fashion with the Bohuslav Martinù Philharmonic Orchestra of Zlín.

Wisely, the disc opens with the best-known of the three, the Fourth (1955-56). His most visionary concerto, its title – Incantation – really does not do justice to the extraordinary character of the music, nor its unique design. The two fantasia-like movements run the gamut of moods from the serene to the volcanic. Like Firkušný on RCA (nla) before him, Koukl highlights the music’s mercurial changes of atmosphere and elliptical construction with consummate skill and is warmly recorded. Ondine’s sound for the fine Kolinsky disc is better still, glorious even, but by comparison to Koukl, Kolinsky now seems as concerned with the technical as the expressive challenges.

Kolinsky remains a formidable rival, none the less, not least in the serious-minded and more conventionally laid out Second Concerto (1934). Here, to be honest, there is little to choose between them. Completists will want Koukl to set alongside Vol 1 (Kolinsky’s had the 1953 Overture and Les fresques de Piero della Francesca) and the inclusion of the exuberant First (1925), placed centrally between the two more high-minded concertos, is a huge bonus. From the very opening it is a delightful romp through French neo-classicism with lively tunes and piquant orchestration. Warmly recommended.

— Guy Rickards

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

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.

***

Giorgio Koukl (born 1953 in Prague) is a pianist and composer. He studied in Prague, Zürich and Milan; among his teachers was Rudolf Firkušný, who introduced him to the works Bohuslav Martinů. Koukl became a leading interpreter of Martinů's piano music, recording his complete piano solo works and concertos. He later expanded his repertoire to include piano works by composers like Le Flem, Tcherepnin, Lourié, Kaprálová, Lutosławski, Tansman and Harsányi. Performing internationally across Europe, North America and Asia, Koukl records exclusively for Naxos and appears frequently in solo and chamber concerts.

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