MARTINŮ'S BOUQUET OF FLOWERS

„Bohuslav Martinů lived in Paris through the 1920s and got swept up in the city’s jazz and avant-garde scenes. Then in the early 1930s he turned his attention back to his native Moravian folk culture and wrote earthy, angular music that fused the lot – including his 1937 cantata Bouquet of Flowers. It’s for children’s chorus, soloists and orchestra and there’s no danger of missing the smell of the soil in these pungent tunes. However, between the carols and cowherds come moments of impressively stark modernism, which this account really illuminates. The voices of Kateřina Kněžíková and Michaela Kapustová are particularly rich together and Tomáš Netopil conducts with a grand sweep…“

The Guardian, 7th December 2017