557918bk Martinu USA 15/12/06 11:09 am Page 4 chronological contrast to the preceding body of early suicide, by drowning, of the esteemed Chinese poet Qu MartinÛ, both composed in New York in the year 1948. Wan of the fifth century B.C. in protest at government The tender, emotionally fragile and sentimental The corruption, remembered today by the annual Dragon Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, with its pentatonic scale Boat Festival. Su Tungpo and other Chinese poets often and its permutations, is dedicated to Hsien-Ming Lee- wrote verse in honour of Qu Wan. Tcherepnin, the Chinese pianist and wife of the Russian Dedicated “to my wife Charlotte,” the Poulenc-like composer Alexander Tcherepnin, who spent a number Les bouqinistes du Quai Malaquais is another kind of of years teaching in the Far East; the two met in book-related short musical snapshot, one of MartinÛ Shanghai, where they quickly fell in love. The remembering his lucky years in Paris where he often MARTINÒ Tcherepnins’ concert tour of 1948 may well have searched for interesting used books from second-hand instigated the composition, but the work also draws booksellers along the embankments of the Seine. inspiration from the poetry of Su Tungpo (aka Su Shi, or Although he found many benefits in his move to the Su DongPo) as found in Lin Yutang’s book, The Gay United States at the beginning of the 1940s, MartinÛ Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo which was often longed for the cafés, shops, and culture of his Complete published in New York the previous year. The phrase beloved Paris. “fifth day of the fifth moon” is more commonly understood as referring to a long-established holiday in the Chinese lunar calendar which commemorates the Mark Gresham Piano Music • 2 Giorgio Koukl Puppets I-III Giorgio Koukl is a pianist, harpsichordist and composer who lives in Lugano, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. He was born in Prague in 1953, and studied there at the State Music School and Conservatory. In 1968 he moved Film en miniature to Switzerland and continued his studies at both the Conservatories of Zurich and Milan. It was during a masterclass with Rudolf Firku‰ny´ that Koukl first encountered Spring in the Garden MartinÛ’s music. Thrilled and inspired by the discovery, Koukl quickly began incorporating the piano works of his fellow countryman as an important part of his performance repertoire. By a strange parallel of history, much as the MartinÛs left Paris in 1938 to escape the Nazi armies, in 1968, thirty years later, when Koukl moved to Switzerland, Russian tanks rolled into Prague. Giorgio Koukl’s artist website can be found at: http://www.koukl.com Giorgio Koukl, Piano 8.557918 4 557918bk Martinu USA 15/12/06 11:09 am Page 2 Bohuslav MartinÛ (1890-1959) Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959): Complete Piano Music • 2 Complete Piano Music • 2 Bohuslav MartinÛ was born in a church tower in that of stylized dances. To take one example, in the Poliãka, a small Bohemian town about eighty third set The New Puppet (Nova loutka) is represented Loutky (Puppets III) (H.92) 9:35 Spring in the Garden (H.125) 7:12 kilometers north of Brno, in what is now the Czech by a “shimmy,” a dance movement in which the body is 1 Pierrotovo zastaveníãko ¡ “Co si ted budeme hráti? Na honûnou?” Republic. His composing began precociously at the age mostly held still, but the shoulders are alternately (Pierrot’s Serenade) 1:42 (What shall we play now? Tag?) 1:37 of ten, after beginning his study of the violin two years moved back and forth. Flappers of the 1920s would 2 ™ earlier. Although he attended the Prague Conservatory, make this modern novelty dance popular, and the name Valãík sentimentální loutky “Myslím, Ïe bych uÏ mûl jít spát.” he failed to complete his courses. While a young man, “shimmy” had been mentioned in American popular (The Sentimental Puppet’s Waltz) 2:27 (I think I should go to sleep now) 2:09 he worked as an orchestral violinist in Prague before music at least as early as 1908, although the specific 3 Colombina (Columbine) 2:45 £ “Proã bychom si nezahráli na vojáky.” moving to Paris in 1923 in order to study with Albert movement itself has earlier folk-dance origins. This 4 Ples loutek (Puppet Ball) 2:42 Why shouldn’t we play soldiers? 1:41 Roussel. He moved to the United States at the kind of “new” transcontinental cultural influence in the ¢ “Není to snad nic zlého, utrhnu-li beginning of the 1940s to escape the spreading Nazi early twentieth century would continue to affect the Loutky (Puppets II) (H.116) 12:58 si nûkolik kvûtin.“ (It isn’t bad, is it, occupation of Europe. music of MartinÛ and many of his compatriots. to pick a few flowers) 1:45 MartinÛ was a prolific composer. He wrote over The bold, jazzy and propulsive Film en Miniature 5 Loutkové divadlo (Puppet Show) 2:08 four hundred pieces of music, some eighty of which of 1925 is another example of MartinÛ’s early interest 6 Harleky´n (Harlequin) 1:47 were for the piano. Even though they constitute such a in the popular media, song and dance styles of this 7 Colombina vzpomíná Butterflies and Birds large portion of his work, the reputation of his works for modern transcontinentalism. The six-movement cycle (Columbine Remembers) 2:54 of Paradise (H.127) 15:36 solo piano has typically been overshadowed by that of opens with an energetic Tango, a nimble Scherzo, 8 Nemocná loutka (The Sick Puppet) 3:10 ∞ Butterflies in flowers 3:57 his orchestral and chamber music. gentle Ukolébavka (Czech cradle-song), a Valse, a § Butterflies and birds of paradise 3:21 This second disc of MartinÛ’s music for solo piano Chanson, then concluding with a sunny, ringing 9 Colombina zpívá (Columbine Sings) 2:58 begins with his three sets of Puppets (Loutky), written Carillon. ¶ Birds of paradise above the sea 8:18 between 1912 and 1924. The three sets, however, are The original manuscript for the four short Loutky (Puppets I) (H. 137) 11:09 named in reverse chronological order. Puppets III (H. 92) children’s games, Spring in the Garden, has been lost 0 Colombina tanãí (Columbine Dances) 2:04 • The Fifth Day of the was written first, completed in 1914, then Puppets II along with information about their first performances. ! Fifth Moon (H. 318) 2:57 (H. 116) in 1918, both composed in Poliãka. The last to The cycle, which was written in Prague in 1920 and Nová loutka be written, Puppets I (H. 137) was begun there and finally published there in 1948 only after MartinÛ had (The New Puppet) (Shimmy) 1:26 completed in Paris in 1924. settled in the United States, has since enjoyed availability @ Osty´chavá panenka (The Shy Puppet) 3:08 ª Les bouquinistes While these three Puppets sets are considered as a in multiple print editions. Similarly, information about # Pohádka (Fairy-tale) 2:32 du Quai Malaquais (H.319) 1:31 whole MartinÛ’s “first viable work,” (Nadace Bohuslava first performances of Butterflies and Birds of Paradise, $ Tanec loutek (Dance of The Puppets) 1:59 MartinÛ, 2004) it was not the first to be influenced by another “garden” cycle of the same year, is unknown, but marionettes. Like Debussy, Fauré, and Schoenberg, in this case a manuscript is found in the Czech National MartinÛ’s imagination had already been captured by the Museum’s music archives, published posthumously. Its Film en miniature (H.148) 13:21 puppet plays of the Belgian dramatist Maurice origins are clear, however, composed during a visit to the % Tango 2:28 Maeterlinck, and in 1910 he wrote a prelude for large Czech artist Max ·vabinsk´y, who owned a collection of ^ Scherzo 1:30 orchestra inspired by Maeterlink’s short drama for rare butterflies and birds. His fame second only to Alfons & Ukolébavka (Berceuse) 3:47 marionettes, La mort de Tintagiles (Death of Tintagiles). Mucha, ·vabinsk´y primarily produced drawings in The character names in various movement titles of pencil, charcoal and pen and ink, but as a graphic * Valse 2:34 Puppets, however, go back to the stock characters of illustrator is best known for his more than seventy ( Chanson 1:26 commedia dell’arte which inspired much of traditional designs of Czechoslovak postage stamps. ) Carillon 1:37 European pantomime and puppetry, while the music is The two final pieces included here are in great 8.557918 2 3 8.557918 557918bk Martinu USA 15/12/06 11:09 am Page 2 Bohuslav MartinÛ (1890-1959) Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959): Complete Piano Music • 2 Complete Piano Music • 2 Bohuslav MartinÛ was born in a church tower in that of stylized dances. To take one example, in the Poliãka, a small Bohemian town about eighty third set The New Puppet (Nova loutka) is represented Loutky (Puppets III) (H.92) 9:35 Spring in the Garden (H.125) 7:12 kilometers north of Brno, in what is now the Czech by a “shimmy,” a dance movement in which the body is 1 Pierrotovo zastaveníãko ¡ “Co si ted budeme hráti? Na honûnou?” Republic. His composing began precociously at the age mostly held still, but the shoulders are alternately (Pierrot’s Serenade) 1:42 (What shall we play now? Tag?) 1:37 of ten, after beginning his study of the violin two years moved back and forth. Flappers of the 1920s would 2 ™ earlier. Although he attended the Prague Conservatory, make this modern novelty dance popular, and the name Valãík sentimentální loutky “Myslím, Ïe bych uÏ mûl jít spát.” he failed to complete his courses.