Composer: Bohuslav Martinů
Performer: Esther Dierkes, Elena Tsallagova, Björn Bürger, Adam Palka, Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Stine Marie Fischer, Andrew Bogard, Michael Smallwood
Orchestra: Saatsorchester Stuttgart
Conductor: Cornelius Meister
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Capriccio
Catalogue: C5477
Release: 2022
Size: 644 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Knife Tears
01. J’aime la musique
02. Madame! Prenez ce fleur
03. Oh, miel de lune
04. Un deux, trois quatre cinq, six, sept
05. Quel est ce machiniste ?
06. En vain, j’ai voulu faire battre ce morose pendule
07. Une mère est sans repos
Comedy on the Bridge
08. Stop! – Don’t Stop Me!
09. Stand Back!
10. Oh, I Knew It, Now I See Them!
11. There He Is, Now I Can See Him
12. I Can Tell You, Our Wedding is Off
13. Listen to That! Victoria!
Martinů was a musical chameleon. On the one hand, there’s a unique character to his output; on the other, he would adopt and adapt to just about any style that happened to be in fashion or to his liking. These two one-act operas, recorded for the first time in their respective versions, are a case in point. There’s the sensational Knife Tears (in its original French version), in which Martinů sets an absurdist libretto to the sounds of Le Jazz Hot, Stravinsky, and anything in between. This is juxtaposed with his Comedy on the Bridge in the English version that helped the work enjoy brief fame and which stands in complete contrast (if anything more in the style of Hanns Eisler) despite being separated by only seven years.