Martinu's Ariane, comes from the last year of his life. It was written in the brief period of a month as a diversion from his more serious labours on The Greek Passion. It is based on a play, Le voyage de Thesee, by his friend, Georges Neveux, as was his operatic masterpiece, Julietta, of which we badly need a new recording. (The Classical Catalogue lists a 1962 French Radio version by Charles Bruck on Le Chant du Monde but in the meantime Supraphon should be encouraged to reissue their beautifully-paced earlier recording by Jaroslav Krombholc, 8/73.) Although Ariane is slight and, unlike The Epic of Gilgamesh or The Prophecy of Isaiah, not an absolutely essential addition to your Martinu collection, it has a freshness and charm that are endearing. As Jaroslav Mihule mentions in his note, Martinu, in making his own adaptation of Neveux's play for a libretto, assigned to it the form of a baroque monody with three sinfonias and three self-contained dramatic sequences plus the closing aria. Yet the pastiche elements have wit and character, and the third scene is quite touching. The demanding bravura of Ariane, apparently inspired by Callas, is excellently sung by Celina Lindsley; not all the cast sound completely comfortable in French and Richard Novak's vibrato may be too wide for some tastes. The orchestra is for once more forwardly placed than the singers and although the sound is eminently satisfactory, the strings have a touch of rawness. The orchestral playing under Vaclav Neumann is lively and sympathetic. The recording, incidentally, dates from the mid-1980s; I picked it up on the continent in its LP format some years ago; the present format is less than ideal. Like The Mount of three lights and The prophecy of Isaiah (see below), this gives the impression of being a multi-disc set, the text and translation being on the bulky side; in fact it will and does fit into a normal jewel case. It seems a bit odd that this short piece, lasting less than 45 minutes should occupy almost as much shelf space as Gotterdammerung. All the same, this is a welcome addition to Martinu's now extensive representation in the catalogue.'