According to the record books, Bohuslav Martinu, the Czech-French-American composer best known for his symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and operas, also wrote over 80 works for piano -- most of them apparently lasting 3 minutes or less. This disc, the second in Italian-Swiss pianist
Giorgio Koukl survey of Martinu's complete piano works, contains 29 pieces grouped in six suites and two single-movement works. There are three books of quasi-sentimental, quasi-ironic Puppets, a saucy six-movement set of stylized popular dances called Film en miniature, and two sets of floral and fauna miniatures named Spring in the Garden and Butterflies and Birds of Paradise along with the tenderly evocative The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon and the brightly insouciant Les bouquinistes du Quai Malaquais. The best pieces are quite special in their uniquely Martinu-esque way -- as Birds of Paradise above the Sea shows, no one could write melodies that so gracefully avoided the bar line and rhythms that so easily got under one's skin like Martinu -- while the lesser works are merely diverting -- one book of Puppets is fine, two books are too much, and three are too, too much.
Koukl is an excellent pianist with a capable technique and a shining tone, and he seems completely involved in every work no matter how short or inconsequential. While certainly not meant for listening straight through, this disc will be mandatory for Martinu completists. Naxos' 2005 digital sound is clean, hard, and sharp.