Martinů - Complete Piano Works Nos.1-3 (Giorgio Koukl)

Complete piano works (7 CDs) of Bohuslav Martinů by Giorgio Koukl (born 1953, Prague, Czechoslovakia), pianist and harpsichordist who lives in Lugano in southern Switzerland. This performance is marked by rhythmic precision, meticulous voicing, and a clean, clear sound that is distinct and audible. Koukl deftly switches between the extremely varied demands of the pieces, from the more virtuosic to the charming character pieces. This complete survey is highly recommended not only for fans of Martinů's music, but also for those who appreciate superb solo piano playing.

MP1
                                                   

Martinů - Cello Concertos Nos.1 & 2

Martinů's two cello concertos recorded by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Angerlica May under conducting of Václav Neumann. It is mmediately recognizable voice. Martinů's music is a cross between Neo-Romanticism and the neo-Baroque, while his melody is intensely lyrical and draws some inspiration from Czech folk music. Recurring syncopated fragments are often the defining characteristic of his faster movements. The music and the performances here are more than do the music justice and this outstanding release would serve as good a place as any to illuminate Martinů's highly attractive compositional style.

MCC

Martinů - Cello Sonatas Nos.1-3

Bohuslav Martinů (8 December 1890, Polička – 28 August 1959, Liestahl) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He was very prolific, writing almost 400 pieces, among them 6 symphonies, choral works, operas, concertos, including for cello, violin, oboe and five for the piano and his chamber music, including seven string quartets. His artistic history content more creative periods, incl. postimpresionism, neo-classicism, expressionism etc.

MCS

Martinů - Three Fragments and Suite From the Opera Juliette

Three Fragments and Suite From the Opera Juliette of Bohuslav Martinů, performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by sir Charles Mackerras, with soloist Magdalena Kožená (mezzosoprano). Juliette is Martinu's operatic masterpiece and one of the most distinctive of all 20th-century operatic works. The plot is hallucinatory and wonderfully weird. Charles Mackerras delivers his usual outstanding results, the Czech Philharmonic plays amazingly, and the principal singers, especially Kožená and Davislim, sing beautifully. We still need a new recording of the complete opera, but until then this will do nicely. Essential for anyone who cares about 20th-century opera, or Martinů generally.

BOJ

Martinů - Epic of Gilgamesh

Bohuslav Martinů's oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh (1955) is unusual and, in a way, unique in all the international literature, as exciting and mysterious as the ancient tale on which it is based. The epic, one of the oldest extant examples of written culture, dates back to the beginning of Babylon, and Martinu devoted a number of years to the study of its philosophical basis before beginning to set to music Thompson's translation of its Neoassyrian version. Martinu's conception and execution are truly ingenious making use of early Baroque forms. Outstanding performances by Prague Symphony Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek enhance the unrepeatable atmosphere of this masterful work.

MEG

Martinů - Symphonies Nos.1-4

Bohuslav Martinů - Symphonies Nos.1-4 by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Václav Neumann.  From the complete of all 6 symphonic works, recorded between 1976 and 1978.

M4S

Martinů - Symphonies Nos.5 & 6, Memorial to Lidice

Symphonies Nos.5 & 6 of Bohuslav Martinů by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karel Ančerl. Last two symphonic compositions of Bohuslav Martinů - incidentally, works which Ančerl recorded at a time when the exiled composer was less than acceptable to political powers of his home country. The album contains besides Symphony No.5 and Symphony No.6, which is called "Fantaisies symphoniques", also symphonic poem "Memorial to Lidice".

M56

Martinů - Sinfonietta giocosa

Sinfonietta giocosa for piano small orchestra, H. 282 was one of the last works Bohuslav Martinů wrote before managing to leave Europe. He had been a resident of Paris since 1923, leaving his Czech homeland for the joys of the Parisian cultural scene. When Hitler's forces took Czechoslovakia, in late 1938 and early 1939, that ended plans he had developed to return to Prague. This recording permed by Czech Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek

MSG

Martinů - The Parables, Estampes, Ouverture & Rhapsody for Orchestra

The disc, spanning 25 years of Bohuslav Martinů`s creative life, shows us another, more fantastical side of his creative imagination. Whether evoking symbolic images from a distant, mystical past (The Parables, Estampes) or celebrating years before the fact an independent Czech nation (Rhapsody), his voice is always strong, clear and compelling. Performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.

MPE

Dvořák, Janáček, Martinů, Novák, Schulhoff, Eben - Songs My Mother Taught Me

Magdalena Kožená, one of the most acclaimed recitalists of today, presents a personal collection of songs she has known since childhood and that form some of her earliest musical influences. A haunting collection of songs by Czech composers such as Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů, Vítězslav Novák, Ervín Schulhoff and Petr Eben, all deeply rooted in the rich Czech folk song tradition.

SMM

Martinů - Complete String Quartets

This complete collection of Bohuslav Martinů's string quartets by Panocha Quartet was recorded in the years 1979-1983, at the peak of the ensemble's career. Martinů's quartets were written over the entire span of his life, and each of them is a world unto itself. Martinů's unique compositional identity appears for the first time, however, in the Quartet No. 2 (1925). After the Quartet No. 6 (1946), Martinů brings his quartet work to a climax with his seventh piece, the Concerto da camera, a miniature full of inner contentment.

MSQ

Martinů - Memorial to Lidice, Field Mass, Symphony No.4

Memorial to Lidice, Field Mass and Symphony No.4 of Bohuslav Martinů, performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek, with Prague Philharmonic Chorus and soloists Ivan Kusnjer (baritone), Miroslav Kejmar (trumpet)

MFM

Martinů - Sonata No.1 for piano, Études and Polkas, Sonata No.1 for flute and piano

Bohuslav Martinů - Sonata No.1 for piano, Études and Polkas Book I-III, Sonata No.1 for flute and piano (Radoslav Kvapil, Gunilla von Bahr, Kerstin Hindart)

MSP

Martinů - Concerto grosso, Symphony for 2 orchestras, Tre Ricercari

Concerto grosso, Symphony for 2 orchestras and Tre Ricercari  of Bohuslav Martinů, performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Jiří Bělohlávek.

MCC