Although Martinů is known for a number of significant choral works, including his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh [Naxos 8.555138], relatively little attention is given to his vocal music. Songs with piano, many of them still unpublished or only made available in print recently, make up a fair proportion of his output. This disc features a selection of songs written during the 1930s and early 1940s, a period in which Martinů moved away from French influences towards a musical language rooted in folklore from his native Bohemia and other areas of Central Europe. Several of the songs on this disc are world première recordings.