Search - Bohuslav Martinu, Christopher Hogwood, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Martinu: Le Raid merveilleux; La Revue de cuisine; On tourne!

Three Ballets from "The Roaring Twenties"

Ralphus | Goyang, Gynggi-Do Korea (South) | 12/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The three ballets on this fine disc - 'La Revue de cuisine', 'Le Raid merveilleux' and 'On tourne!' - were all written in 1927; and they all three reflect the spirit of their time.



Martinu's music embraces, at various periods of his life, a wide variety of styles: sombre and angst-ridden, 'Memorial to Lidice'; calm and lyrical, 'Symphony no.2'; neo-Baroque, 'Double Concerto'; or heavily jazz-inflected, 'On tourne!'. According to the booklet notes for this disc, he was a "...perceptive and inquisitive observer of the music scene...ready and willing to expand his compositional vocabulary and his catalogue of genres."



These three ballets very much reflect the spirit of the 20's. Neo-classicism, the influence of Diaghilev and Stravinsky, jazz and the 'mecanique'.

By far the more well-known work, 'La Revue de cuisine' (Kitchen Revue) is a ballet for kitchen utensils. The fourth movement is entitled, 'Dance of the pot and the lid'. Written for a sextet of instruments (violin, cello, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and piano), this is lively, vibrant jazz-informed neo-Classicism.



'Le Raid merveilleux' (The Amazing Flight) and 'On tourne!' (Roll the Cameras) both interest themselves in technology and mechanism.

'Le Raid...' (for a small ensemble of instruments) was written as a response to the tragic death of two French airmen attempting to cross the Atlantic just two weeks before Lindbergh.

This mini-ballet was conceived 'sans personnages' for lighting and shadows alone. The French avant-garde was surely in Martinu's mind. In some ways it brings to mind Satie's 'Parade'.



'On tourne!', with its scenario for lobsters, fish, a dancing pearl and a diver that falls in love with it, is making more than a nod in the direction of the surreal. This is very jazz-tinged music to the point of some tunes sounding very familiar, in a generic kind of way. But that's part of the fun and charm of this music. Incidentally, the stage directions for the ballet require the bottom half of the 'tableaux' to be a projected animation of an underwater scene while the top half features a boat and a diver on the surface.



The three works on this disc are very well performed by members of the Czech Philharmonic conducted by (perhaps surprisingly) Christopher Hogwood. This is good music and the musicians clearly enjoyed making it.

The recorded sound is excellent too, though the final work, the only one for full orchestra, 'On tourne!', suffers a little from boominess and reverb.



Substantial and informative booklet notes (English, German, French, Czech)

Recorded: Dvorak Hall, Prague - 8/2003 & 2/2004

TT = 65'



This is a highly recommended disc."