佳佳唱片

Martina Jankova - soprano, Tomaš Kral - baritone, Ivo Kahanek - piano

Folk songs are evidently one of the seminal sources of inspiration that Bohuslav Martinů drew upon in his music. The composer would take Sušil's extensive collection of traditional Moravian songs along with him wherever he travelled. The texts from the volume were used for the majority of the Songs on One Page, Songs on Two Pages and The New Chapbook. Just as Dvořak had done in his Moravian Duets, so Martinů conceived his own tunes and accompaniment, yet his having been profoundly impacted by folk music, its rhythm, melody and harmonic techniques is palpable. Created in the early 1940s, in the middle of World War II, during the composer's exile in the USA, the three song cycles represented for Martinů and his compatriots a connection with their beleaguered homeland. Jan Masaryk, a Czech diplomat and a skilled amateur pianist, often performed the songs together with the soprano Jarmila Novotna, a MET soloist. Owing to their elliptical expression and modesty, the three cycles may serve as the clue to Martinů's late works. The New Slovak Songs constitute a unique piece in the composer's oeuvre; he himself had collected them during his visit to Slovakia in 1920 and subsequently wrote for them piano accompaniments. Three renowned artists, bearing an authentic relation to folk music and Martinů's work alike, have made a benchmark recording, in which they have succeeded in highlighting the songs' tender beauty.

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ (1890–1959)
PÍSNIČKY NA JEDNU STRaNKU   SONGS ON ONE PAGE, H 294, 1943 8:03
1  Rosička   Dew 1:06
2  Otevření slovečkem   Unlocked by a world 0:34
3  Cesta k milé   Riding to see my love 1:24
4  Chodníček   The footpath 0:36
5  U maměnky   At my mother’s 0:56
6  Sen Panny Marie   Dream of the Virgin Mary 2:06
7  Rozmarýn   Rosemary 1:06
PÍSNIČKY NA DVĚ STRaNKY   SONGS ON TWO PAGES, H 302, 1944 8:09
8  Děvče z Moravy   The Moravian girl 1:12
9  Súsedova stajňa   The neighbour's stable 0:59
10  Naděje   Hope 2:13
11  Hlasný   The night watchman 0:54
12  Tajna laska   Secret love 0:52
13  Boží muka   The wayside cros 0:49
14  Zvolenovcí chlapci   The lads of Zvolen 0:54
NOVÉ SLOVENSKÉ PÍSNĚ   THE SLOVAK SONGS, H 126, 1920 55:07
15  Mať moja, mať moja   My mother, my mother 2:38
16  Povedz, že mi, povedz   Tell me, tell 2:42
17  Čo robíš, Hanka?   What are you doing, Hanka? 1:22
18  Ej, hora, hora   Hey, ye hill 3:27
19  Od Oravy dažď ide   There’s rain coming from the Orava region 2:21
20  Povedz mi, môj najmilejší   Tell me, my most beloved 1:59
21  Ešte jednu sestru mam   I’ve got yet another sister 1:41
22  Mala som ja rukavce   I had a blouse 1:11
23  Vysoko zornička   The evening star 1:39
24  Ej, poznať je to, poznať   Hey, you can tell 1:12
25  Oženil som sa ja   I’ve got married 0:57
26  Zjedzte ma, vľčky   Eat me, wolves 0:49
27  Stojí dievča u šentýša   A lass is standing by the tap 1:07
28  Hore Vahom   Up the Vah river 1:12
29  Hore Hronom   Up the Hron river 2:23
30  V trenčianskej kasarni   At the Trenčín barracks 1:27
31  Bože, Bože, čo mam robiť   God, oh God, what am I to do 3:22
32  Hanulienka, Hanulienka   Little Hana 3:12
33  Čie sa to ovečky   Whose sheep are these 1:22
34  Chlapovi je dobre   A man is all right 0:55
35  Never že mu, never   Don’t you trust him 0:56
36  Kopala studienku   She was digging a well 1:15
37  Sedemdesiat sukien mala   She got seventy skirts 1:02
38  Ej, lúka, lúka   Lo, meadow, meadow 5:06
39  Ej, mal som frajerku   Lo, I had a lass 0:48
40  Holubienka biela   The white dove 1:17
41  Spoza čiernej Hory   From behind the black hill 2:08
42  Povídajú ludé   The folk say 2:17
43  Budzil som ca   I kept waking up 0:53
44  Dievča z Bielej hory   The lass from White mountain 1:19