legoru
03-31-2014, 03:54 AM
From Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu's Parisian period come two rarely heard ballets, both first recordings. The scenario of Martinu's 1930 "Echec du Roi" (Checkmate) anticipates that of Stravinsky's "Jeu de Cartes" (1937), with dancing chessmen taking the place of dancing poker chips. The score mixes Stravinskyan neo-classicism with the tongue-in-cheek wit of Milhaud and Satie; bits of jazz and blues-also a vocal soloist and a narrator-are tossed into the stew for felicitous measure.
The ballet Checkmating the King closes the jazz-inspired period in Bohuslav Martinů's output and heralds, at the same time, the new field on which the composer would focus, namely neo-Classicism. As it often happens in life where the last moments can also be the most intensive, in this particular ballet, the jazz inspirations are applied in a much greater measure than in the preceding jazz opera, Les larmes du couteau. If in Bohuslav Martinů's works for the stage jazz was the musical expression of contemporary life, it is somewhat surprising that he made maximum use of it in a work inspired by a game of chess. An explanation, however, suggests itself: just like in the ballet sketch La Revue de cuisine (Kitchen Revue), kitchen utensils behaved like people to the accompaniment of jazz music, chessmen behave like people in this ballet. The game of chess is a portrayal of the struggle for existence in the human society. I do not know whether the librettist Andr� Coeuroy had this metaphor in mind and neither the surviving manuscript nor the note that the ensemble in this "jazz ballet" should be "burlesque and deformed" offer a clue... But with Bohuslav Martinů's music, and the fact that Echec au Roi followed immediately after the opera The Three Wishes where the parallel between play and life was central, this explanation literally imposes itself, the more so because the compositional means are almost similar. In the opera The Three Wishes, Martinů had the opportunity to use dance forms in the vocal parts, using the chanson instead of the aria to characterize concrete situations on stage. In the ballet Checkmating the King he uses voice only once, and handles the alto as if it were an instrument. In the brilliant orchestral numbers – apart from the variety of march-like rhythms for the lining up of the two armies of chessmen in which we can discern intonations of the later joyful war music from the excellent Comedy on the Bridge – valse-boston holds a special place in the ballet with its contrasting foxtrot middle part, as does blues with reminiscences of the opera The Three Wishes. The struggle is expressed musically by a beautiful fugue which many a leading composer would readily use in a symphony. The highlight of Bohuslav Martinů's art of counterpoint is the treatment of the fugue in which the principal theme is "jazzed", the contrapuntal tissue sharply rhythmicized, and the picture painted by the music evokes associations of an uncompromising battle. Uncompromising but, at the same time, merry, for it is only a play and both music and theatre are supposed, according to Martinů, to bring people joy and happiness. This is a brief description of the plot: From a box in the background emerge, to the accompaniment of a merry clownish music the Ace of Clubs, the Domino, and the Dice, and agree on a game of chess. They spread out a large chess-board as the battlefield. The Dice, in the role of judge, or Master of Ceremonies, calls out the individual forces of the armies of chessmen which, one by one, take up their basic position. First come the Knights – the cavalry, followed by the Bishops – the artillery, the Castles – the armoured units and, finally, the royal families flanked by the Pawns. After a delightful solo of the two Queens (who could have been the real cause of this cruel, historic battle between the Black and the White armies) comes the call to battle, and the chess game begins with the classical Spanish opening, to the sound of a brief pseudo-Spanish overture. The fugue depicts the raging battle, while the art of war of the Kings is expressed by Martinů's brilliant compositional technique. The Black King is checked, and the Ace of Clubs, playing with the Black pieces, contemplates the sad situation of the Black army, to the accompaniment of a melancholic blues. There is no way out, and when we hear the coda of the fugue, the Black King is checkmated. While the defeated King is carried away, the White army rejoice over their victory, and the pieces return to the box. The Ace of Clubs, the Domino, and the Dice roll up the chess-board to the sound of the same clownish music that opened the ballet. The game is over. Unbelievably, this beautiful ballet remained unproduced until the radio premiere in 1977 after which it had to wait for another three years before it was produced on stage.
Martinů’s music for the ballet REVOLT dates from 1925. It is all the more interesting, therefore, to have an opportunity of listening to a piece of music documenting Martinu's output at an early stage of his French period (he arrived in Paris, to join Albert Roussel, in the autumn of 1923). The libretto is Martinu's own, anticipating various featu*res that were to appear more explicitly later on in his first opera, The Soldier and the Dancer (1926-1927): namely, an attempt at breaking the established scenic clich�s, at filling the stage with dan*cing motion and at tearing down the barrier between actors and viewers. In fact, all of this amounted to a revolt--revolt of the notes, in the case of the ballet's plot. There are black notes and white ones, and there are high and low ones. Listening experience will reveal the composer's further specification of the low notes being chubby and bearded, while the high ones are tall, thin and pale. The reason for their muti*ny is simple enough. They have been abused. This is illustrated by a scene with birds singing, a dog lying at its kennel and a piano teacher lecturing a dull female pupil. The tones of the piano fly into a rage; de*stroying the instrument, they drive the couple out, together with a young lover playing a flute serenade and getting hopelessly lost on the high "c". The general commotion, in which sounds of foxtrot coming from a barroom are flooded by a barrage of noises--a mixture of car horns and recorded music--is in*terrupted by a radio announcement. The notes call a general strike (followed, naturally enough, by con*servatories, musicians and musical instrument manufacturers, while critics commit collective suicides, the composers guild goes into liquidation and Stravinsky takes refuge on a desert island in the Paci*fic...).
The last surviving composer despairs. Then a folk song is sung behind the stage. Noble Lady Inspiration peers over the singer's shoulder; the notes start to gather around the two, and the composer sets about his work on a score.
Presently, there is an announcement on the radio: "The notes are back again, the situation is calm. Everything goes well.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we wish you a good night."
Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959)
Echec au Roi (Checkmating the King), jazz-ballet in 2 act, H.186 (1930)
01. Pas-de trois klaunske (Allegro vivo) (Pas-de-trois clownesque (Allegro vivo)) (3:35)
02. Tanec jezdcu (Poco allegro) (Pas des Cavaliers. (Poco allegro)) (0:46)
03. Tanec strelcu (Moderato) (Danse des Fous (Moderato)) (0:48)
04. Tanec vezi (Allegro marcia) (Danse des Tours (Allegro marcia)) (2:43)
05. Solo kraloven (Valse-Boston) /alt/ (Solo des Reines (Valse-Boston)) (3:41)
06. Vyzva k boji (Allegro) (Le Defi (Allegro)) (0:47)
07. Spanelske zahajeni (Allegro) (Ouverture espagnole (Allegro)) (1:03)
08. Hra v sachy (Allegro moderato) (La partie d?echecs (Allegro moderato) (5:55)
09. Blues (Tempo di blues) (Blues (Tempo di blues)) (4:37)
10. Sach a mat (Allegro) (Echec et mat (Allegro)) (1:11)
11. Finale (Allegro vivo) (Finale (Allegro vivo)) (2:35)
The Revolt, ballet-sketch, H.151 (1925)
12. Ptaci tanec (Moderato) /att./ (1:14)
13. Tanec mysi (Tempo di valse) (1:23)
14. Tanec v baru (Andante moderato) /att./ (1:21)
15. Poulicni zpevaci (1:44)
16. Music Hall. Spanelska tanecnice (Andante moderato) (2:18)
17. V baru (Foxtrot) (2:58)
18. Finale (Allegro moderato)
Prague Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek, cond.
Katerina Kachlikova, alt
01.01. 1993
https://mega.co.nz/#!pZNERKCD!VcnkDTu_KCdDhuwX4ni62P7DWXZ2tfzc1m-NeLZ2kSM
CD-rip, Flac + covers, 233mb