Composer: Bohuslav Martinů
Performer: Agnieszka Kopacka
Orchestra: Sinfonia Varsovia
Conductor: Ian Hobson
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0414
Release: 2017
Size: 700 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Vanishing Midnight, H. 131
01. I. Satyrs in the Wood of Cypress
02. II. The Blue Hour
03. III. Shadows
04. Balade, “Vila na moři” (The Villa by the Sea), H. 97
05. Sen o minulosti (Dream of the Past), H. 124
This series of first-ever recordings of Martinů’s early orchestral works has already uncoveredmuch delightful music; this third release moves everything up a gear.
The symphonic triptych Vanishing Midnight (1922) will prove a revelation: a big-hearted work ofbreathtaking opulence and striking confidence.
Vanishing Midnight is as exquisitely lovely as it is powerful and dramatic – Martinů’s first truemasterpiece, but it is also his last full-on engagement with Impressionism
The two shorter works here – Ballade: Villa by the Sea and Dream of the Past – are colourful andatmospheric tone-poems, pieces of real substance and major discoveries in their own right.
Nowadays everyone knows (or should know) Martinů’s symphonies, as well as some of his brilliant symphonic poems such as The Frescoes of Piero della Francesca, but most of the orchestral works from his first maturity – recorded here in several volumes – remain largely ignored. With these volumes, you’ll hear how in 1915-1920, Martinů already wrote prime Martinů-esque works, in such a distinctive style – even though the orchestra can be reminiscent of Josef Suk, Debussy and Strauss, or even Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead. In fact, just like Rachmaninoff’s work, the ballad Villa by the Sea (Vol. 3) is clearly evocative of a – very similar – Böcklin painting! Please note this is a discographic first (yes this can still be a thing for Martinů! As unlikely as it sounds), same for the eerie Míjející půlnoc (“Vanishing Midnight”, Vol. 3), a brilliant orchestral feat. The Shadow (Vol. 2), a ballet from 1916, at times features baroque idioms – it is indeed said that Martinů often drew inspiration from his predecessors, always with incredible musical originality. All in all, a must for the fans of a composer who, as it seems, still holds quite a few tricks up his sleeve.