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Monday, April 22, 2019

Bohuslav Martinů - Early Orchestral Works Vol. 1 (Ian Hobson)


Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů
  • (01) Prélude en forme de scherzo, H 181a
  • (02) Orchestral movement, H 90
  • (03) Posvícení ('Village Feast'), H 2
  • (04) Nocturno 1, H 91
  • (05) Little Dance Suite, H 123

Adam Szlęzak, cor anglais (7, 8)
Andrzej Krzyżanowski, flute (3, 8)
Jakub Haufa, violin (4-6, 8)
Artur Paciorkiewicz, viola (4)

Sinfonia Varsovia
Ian Hobson, conductor

Date: 2013
Label: Toccata Classics
https://toccataclassics.com/product/martinu-early-orchestral-works-1/

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Review

These are all first recordings of these early orchestral works by Martinu. The notes indicate that, with the sole exception of the orchestral arrangement of the brief 1929 Prelude for piano, all of these works date from the period 1907-1919. Annotator Aleš Brezina (director of the Bohuslav Martinu Institute in Prague) states bluntly that, “Knowing well the original sources and the editorial difficulties they involve, I have to express my deep admiration for the detective and archaeological skills…of the editor of most of these scores, Michael Crump.” Crump’s own, longer notes which follow indicate that the “handful of musicologists” who have examined these scores considered them to be “incomplete, incompetent or downright unplayable” due to the manuscripts having been left in “a rather poor condition” requiring “a considerable amount of editorial intervention.” Thus this CD, a splendid beginning to the orchestral works of this composer, is the first in an intended series of six to be issued.

Whatever the problems involved in the transcription and/or completion of these orchestral scores, and I concede that they may indeed have been considerable, the end result is a stunning vindication of hard work plus an inspired interpreter. Readers of my writings will know that I am and have been for some time a huge fan of Ian Hobson, both as pianist (specifically in his long-ranging series of Chopin releases on Zephyr) and conductor. Despite a tendency to play everything in a fairly straightforward manner with very little in the way of rubato or other modifications to the musical line, Hobson’s deeply ingrained sensitivity as a performer comes through in everything he does. For those who like to make comparisons, I would say that to some extent Hobson is like David Zinman with greater sensitivity to detail and dynamics. This is not a criticism of Zinman, whose work I have often found to be quite valid in itself, but by and large I find Hobson’s work just that much more sensitive to musical feeling, and this CD is no exception.

A good example of Hobson’s excellence may be heard not only in the slow works here (the Orchestral movement or the Nocturno ) but also in the pieces that Martinu based on folk music, Posvícení or (Harvest Festival) and the Little Dance Suite. Here, despite his being British, Hobson does a fine job of capturing the unusual rhythms of Czech music, thus he is able to project its underlying folk nature without the feeling of the rhythm being slightly “off.” Perhaps in this case, however, Hobson had the understanding and feeling of the musicians as well, since the Sinfonia Varsovia is an Eastern European orchestra of some distinction, being an augmented version of the former Polish Chamber Orchestra. Moreover, I must give high praise to the engineers, Gabriela Blicharz and Lech Dudzik, who managed to capture exceptionally clear yet slightly ambient sound for the group.

This is certainly a fine collection of early Martinu works. Highly recommended to fans of the composer and/or conductor.

-- Lynn René Bayley, FANFARE

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/May13/Martinu_Early_Volume1_TOCC0156.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Aug13/Martinu_orchestral_v1_TOCC0156.htm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martinu-Orchestra-Sinfonia-Varsovia-Classics/dp/B00BK6HR6S

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Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. Martinů began as a violinist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In the early 1930s he found his main font for compositional style, the neo-classical as developed by Stravinsky. With this, he expanded to become a prolific composer, who wrote almost 400 pieces, included 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He is compared with Prokofiev and Bartók in his innovative incorporation of Central European ethnomusicology into his music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF

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Ian Hobson (born 7 August 1952 in Wolverhampton) is an English pianist, conductor and teacher, and is a professor at Florida State University. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Yale University in the United States. His teachers included Claude Frank, Ralph Kirkpatrick and Menahem Pressler. Hobson won silver medals in the Arthur Rubinstein and Vienna-Beethoven competitions and first prize in the 1981 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition. He has performed in many countries with many orchestras, frequently conducting from the keyboard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Hobson
https://www.ianhobson.net/

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