Martinu’s Spalicek (1932) is a fairytale/folk ballet with songs which, in complete form, lasts well over an hour. There are scenes featuring Puss in Boots, Cinderella, and various other children’s characters, both familiar and not. The music is delightful–a sequence of neoclassical dances and pantomimes, and the two suites take in many of the best purely orchestral numbers, lasting about forty-five minutes in total. Charles Mackerras made a fine recording of them for Conifer, since reissued on various labels, but Järvi is just as lively and the performance is good, clean fun.
The Rhapsody-Concerto is one of Martinu’s late works. It dates from 1952 and so features his mature, lyrically syncopated style. As the title suggests, the work is freeform, consisting of two movements, one winsome and songful, and another that starts that way before picking up steam in a brilliant second half that contains thematic references to the opening of the piece. Given the dearth of good music for viola and orchestra, it has been recorded many times, almost always very successfully (there are plenty of excellent violists out there).
Mikhail Zemtsov play the concerto beautifully, with opulent tone and complete rhythmic confidence. This isn’t the most adventurous coupling perhaps (Mackerras had the dramatic Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Tiimpani), but my only real quibble is that acoustics of the Estonian concert hall in which the recording took place are notably cavernous. Detail isn’t obscured, happily, but the music could do with a dryer ambiance. Overall, though, a very nice disc.
