Music Chat: The World's Most Beautiful Melodies (No. 29) Martinu
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Martinu was a composer with a very specific and personal brand of lyrical melody--it was less a tune than a texture buoyed by his characteristic vivacious, syncopated rhythm. Here is a typical example, from the Supraphon recording of his Toccata e Due Canzone. Absolutely gorgeous.
Musical Example courtesy of Supraphon Records
Thanks Dave. I have loved this work for many years. A gem.
his "La Bagarre" has one of the most beautiful melodies I've ever heard
‘Singing lyricism’ is spot on!
You're doing God's work spreading the word of Martinů. I don't think I'm the only one who only came to know this composer due to your advocacy. Even if I never got anything else from you - which is FAR from true!!! - it would be worth it for Martinů alone, now one of my very favourite composers of all time. And I've never heard this piece yet!! Luckily, Martinů was so prolific, so there are many more treasures to open. Thank you again for this, and for sharing Martinů!
PS: Sorry if some of my messages come across as overly-enthusiastic, but I really am excited by all this. I hope you don't consider it fake or too over-the-top, I really am being sincere. Some of these "discoveries" you have exposed me to make me feel like I did 30 years ago: 1992 was the year I "discovered" classical music, and I had so many adrenaline junky moments in that first couple of years, and I feel like after a long time, this last year or so, I'm getting the original high back again.
Not at all. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm!
I always love your Martinu content! He might be my favorite composer
Mine too love the Toccata e due Canzoni, all his late works have a tremendous luminosity. Parables, Sym 6, Frescoes of Piero della Francesca.
That’s fantastic. I’ve got a video taken on a Mediterranean cruise in 1999 where I play that bit on my iPod (holding the headphones next to the mic) while filming the blue sea. It just goes together brilliantly! I’m glad someone else has discovered it. To my ears Martinu has a lot of sunny but windswept Mediterranean moments - and the Greek Passion of course.
Update - Actually I realise it wasn’t an iPad in 1999. I took a discman and a wallet of about 12 cds one of which was Martinu with Tamas Vasary on Chandos.
The Most beautiful Melody in the world for me, It’s Warner’s Liebestod. It’s just fabulous how it goes the way through the climax, this piece has a special place in my heart. Leonardo.
A wonderful recommendation, thank you. In an ideal world Martinu would've been more famous than The Beatles, on the sheer worth of his music alone. Tells you a lot about the kind of world we actually do live in.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I ran across a different version, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta conducted by Tamás Vasary. I don't know how it competes with other versions, but I really loved it. Such beautiful music. High level musical composition is just an unexplainable miracle.
It's a very good disc.
Thanks for that. Since discovering your channel I have got several CDs of his music and it's both enjoyable and fascinating. One topic that has been on my mind is the influence of Jazz on a number of 20th C composers. What is it about Jazz that "got the ear" of these composers ? Is it possible you might do a video on this topic ?
Possible indeed!
As I've written before I especially like the cor anglais melody near the start of the second of Martinů's Estampes. If anyone ever does a radio of television version of Cather's My Antonia they could use it.
This makes me excited to explore Martinu, if i ever get time to go beyond my obsession with tchaikovsky. I will I'm sure. Though it reminds me how tchaikovsky resolved the melody/movement problem. He often whips the music up into a frenzy then transitions into lyricism which is physically and emotionally moving. It creates a jolt or a shock, sometimes with a dramatic pause, eg, twice in the 5th symphony, slow movement and finale, and at the end of manfred, jumping to c major, and the organ. Anyway the Martinu example is wonderful. I want to hear the rest
My favourite melody ever is probably the « Entrée de Polymnie » by Rameau from the opera « Les boréades ». It’s music that’s more than music. Like often in baroque music it’s beyond the categories of joyful or sad while embracing both dimensions. Its soothing beauty is as luminous as the typically solar harmonies by Rameau. This piece has helped me a lot in moments of sadness or doubt, like a warm hand on my shoulder. It’s better for the soul than any medicine.
My go to version is by Marc Minkowski.
I love the music world of Martinů, the only problem I have is distinguishing between some of his pieces, as they are so many and some sound very similar to each other.
Not when you know them well--just take your time and let them sink in.
When I listen to this work, I am reminded of Beethoven just a little bit.
Most unusual rhythms can be topic too,
or combination with melodies
What Henri said.