Bohuslav Martinu: The Complete Works for Cello and Piano

Bohuslav Martinu - a matter of the heart for Vilem VlcekIn 1910, when the director of the Prague Conservatoire expelled Martinu fromthe school because of his "incorrigible negligence", he assuredly had no ideathe 20-year-old youth would become one of the most famous composersof the 20th century. Three years later, the young student sold his violin inParis to be able to concentrate fully on composition. About his beginnings,the composer later declared that he was "simply unable to learn thosethings", and instead had to "come up with my own feeling somehow". Martinudevoted himself more to the cello than any other composer of his generation,writing both chamber works and concertos. The present recording of hiscomplete works for cello and piano was made at the Musik Akademie Basel,just a few kilometres from Schonenberg, where Martinu spent the last yearsof his life. The works were mostly written for famous cellists who were oftenthe composer's friends (Frank, Cassado, Fournier, Honegger, Piatigorsky, Sádloetc.). He wrote five compositions in a lighter character in Paris between 1929and 1931. The more serious works (three sonatas and two compositions invariation form) were written between 1939 and the end of the composer's life;the Variations on a Slovak Folk Song became his last chamber work, and in itone hears unmistakeably his yearning for the homeland to which he could notreturn. The young Vilem Vlcek has enjoyed success at competitions (victoryat the Penderecki Cello Competition in Krakow, the 2023 MarkneukirchenInternational Instrumental Competition, the 2022 Rahn Musikpreis etc.)and has worked with top orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the PragueSymphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Basel ChamberOrchestra etc.), but above all, what wins over listeners is the expressive depthof his playing, inspired on this recording by the musicianship of the wonderfulpianist Denis Linnik.