Christopher Hogwood really does have an affinity for Martinu’s busy, neo-Baroque music, letting it bustle and sing with unaffected charm and plenty of energy. The novelty here for many collectors will be the first complete recording of Le Revue de cuisine, the full score of which was only discovered in the 1990s. In addition to the familiar suite, there are a couple of interludes and a funeral march that taken together extend the length of the work by several minutes. Of course none of that would matter if this performance weren’t terrific, but it has all of the gusto and humor that Martinu wrote into the music, with an especially delicious romp through the Charleston. The members of the Czech Philharmonic, particularly clarinetist Tomás Kopácek, sound fabulous, and pianist Daniel Wiesner is pretty hot stuff too.
Le Raid merveilleux, subtitled “ballet mécanique”, describes the failed attempt of two French aviators to fly across the Atlantic just weeks before Lindberg succeeded from the opposite direction. The music alternates evocative machine sounds with some surprisingly sweet, lyrical passages (the final representation of the sea, for example). On tourne! (Roll the Cameras!) is a puppet ballet lasting nearly half an hour involving a diver and various sea creatures in various cartoonish adventures. The music has unflagging energy and charm, coming straight from Martinu’s bubbliest theatrical vein. Bits of it have been recorded before, but I believe this is the premiere of the complete work, and it should earn the friendship of the composer’s fans everywhere. It’s a delight, as are these performances, very vividly recorded, even if the sound is a touch reverberant at loud moments. An important and (best of all) extremely enjoyable addition to the Martinu discography. [7/9/2004]
