 Rien dans le catalogue de Martinu n’est secondaire, ni indifférent d’ailleurs. Il mit son génie simple, sa langue si impertinente, son geste où la fantaisie en un instant verse au tragique y compris dans les six cahiers pour petit chœur réunis sur ce disque que fruitent les Martinu Voices de Lukas Vasilek. Amoureux des fresques de Pierro della Francesca et de l’art des madrigalistes, Martinu fut le seul dans sa génération à reprendre les arcanes du madrigal, s’y conformant et s’y sentant pourtant libre, avec ce génie singulier de faire de toute coquille sa maison. Le délicieux cahier de 1959 qui ouvre l’album, avec son soprano solo si troublant pour « Rien n’est perdu dans ce monde », donne le ton du texte, frais et profond, allusif mais étreignant, véritable manifestation d’un génie qui aura culminé d’abord dans le sacré : les modes slavons, la psalmodie classique que viennent ébrouer des élans populaires, les couleurs entre fresque et vitrail, les mélodies résolvant la polyphonie des Quatre chants sur la Vierge Marie avaient fixé dès 1934 cette grammaire lumineuse et allusive, si perceptible tout au long d’un disque qu’il est impossible de ranger, petit album de purs trésors enfin chantés du cœur (Discophilia - Artalinna.com). (Jean-Charles Hoffelé) “You know I am not a ‘chorus’ composer … although I may have made a few good choral pieces, I always somewhat hesitate whether I should plunge into them.” Notwithstanding his humility, Bohuslav Martinu truly loved choral singing. When composing, he mainly drew inspiration from traditional music. He kept returning to the texts from František Sušil’s collection of Moravian folk songs, a copy of which he always kept with him during his travels. In addition to their rhythmicity and modality, he was fascinated by the archetypal themes they treated, their grace and conciseness, as well as the directness, devoid of “metaphysics and pathos”, and, above all, the subject of love in a variety of forms – happy and ill-fated, unrequited, betrayed … The present recording features the complete choral works Martinu intended (according to a number of sources) for chamber formations. Even though created over a great time span, between 1934 and 1959 (the composer only completed the Madrigals shortly before his death), all the pieces attest to the genius and sensitivity with which Martinu was able to handle the folk texts and furnish them with a new musical form – simple, spirited and majestic alike. Lukáš Vasilek and Martinu Voices have made the best of the autograph scores, getting as close as possible to the composer’s intentions, in all the articulation and dynamic nuances. Following the highly acclaimed CD of the cantatas (Supraphon SU 4198-2), the current recording provides yet another insight into Bohuslav Martinu’s fascinating universe.
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