Martin - Works For Cello Piano, Volume 1

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Cat No: 8554502

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943450222

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: Martin - Works for Cello Piano, Volume 1

Description
Bohuslav Martinů(1890-1959) Works for cello andpiano, Volume 1may still be less wellknown than his compatriots Dvořak, Smetana and Janaček, but hisoutput is large and ranges from chamber works to symphonies and operas. Theseinclude some real treasures and much that is attractive and enjoyable. If it isthe symphonic works and operas that make the strongest impression at first,much of the chamber music has a more intimate appeal to a home listener. Amongthese works are the three sonatas and short pieces on this disc, none too longto outstay their welcome.Bohuslav Martinů was born on 8thDecember 1890 in a small room in the tower of St. James' Church in the Czechvillage of Polička. His first composition, at the age of thirteen, was apiece called Three Riders, written for string quartet. Such earlypromise was disappointed when he was expelled from Prague Conservatory afterfour years.It was not until 1918 at the end of the First World War that Martinů produced his first major composition, CzechRhapsody for baritone, chorus and orchestra. This traditional patrioticwork uses texts from Psalm 23, the poem Bohemia and quotes thenationalist Wenceslas Chorale.As a violinist with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra he worked under thegreat Czech conductor, Vaclav Talich. It was not long before Martinů fell under the spell of the new French music ofcomposers like Debussy and Ravel, the first product of that influence being theexotic ballet, Istar, of 1921. By 1923, the lure of things Gallicpersuaded him to move to France where he studied under Albert Roussel in Paris.There he gained recognition outside his own country as one of the leadingcomposers of the day.Martinů's preoccupation withthe impressionism of Debussy soon changed to an interest in the neo-?¡classicismfavoured by Stravinsky as well as Parisian Symbolism and Dadaism and a loveaffair with the new American Jazz. The results were works like the 1926 ballet TheButterfly that stamped and the jazzy Kitchen Revue of 1927 and JazzSuite of a year later.In 1930, Martinů rediscovered theBaroque Concerto Grosso form. By 1932 he composed an affectionate folk ballet Spaliček,remembering the music of his homeland, and in 1934 wrote the first of hismajor operas, The Miracle of Our Lady. The works which followed are someof his finest: the operas Alexandre his and the surrealist Julietta, thefolk cantata A Bouquet of Flowers, the String Quartet No. 4 andthe Concerto Grosso.The Nazi threat in Europe now meant permanent exile. He fled Paris in1940, escaping the German troops, reaching the South of France and then movingon to America like many of Europe's great musicians.In New York, where Dvořak had written his last symphony, Martinů began his series of six symphonies. He wasdeeply homesick and decided to return to Europe in 1953. He settled, not in thenew Czechoslovakia but on the French Riviera where he was inspired to write oneof his most luminescent works,
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