Martinu’s piano music isn’t well known, though there is a good deal of it. As is true for Sibelius, the piano doesn’t always show off this composer’s style to best effect. So much of his characteristic sound depends on the sort of instrumental textures we find in his chamber and orchestral pieces. Many of these works date from Martinu’s Paris period–the late 1920s and 1930s–and thus feature the busy, toccata-like textures and spicy harmonies typical of his style at that time (Jeux I and II). There are also echoes of his early, impressionist idiom (in “Film en miniature”) and a couple of late pieces in his dreamier late style: the orientalist Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, and the brief but haunting Memories, which concludes the disc.
For most listeners the outstanding item here (and by far the most substantial piece) will be the premiere of the piano solo version of La revue de cuisine, the composer’s own arrangement of his popular ballet. Of course the piece sounds best in its original scoring (it cries out for the timbre of a clarinet, particularly in the Charleston), but this effective and entertaining work certainly makes a good impression as a keyboard solo. Karel Kosárek plays it, along with all of this music, with plenty of the necessary spunk and rhythmic bounce. The piano tone is a touch wooden in the bass register, but Martinu’s fans will find much here to enjoy. One thing you can always say about Martinu is that even when he’s not “great”, he’s seldom less than enjoyable and fun, and that’s certainly true here.
