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Bohuslav Martinu: The Complete Works for Cello and Piano on CD

Bohuslav Martinu - a matter of the heart for Vilem Vlcek

In 1910, when the director of the Prague Conservatoire expelled Martinu from

the school because of his "incorrigible negligence", he assuredly had no idea

the 20-year-old youth would become one of the most famous composers

of the 20th century. Three years later, the young student sold his violin in

Paris to be able to concentrate fully on composition. About his beginnings,

the composer later declared that he was "simply unable to learn those

things", and instead had to "come up with my own feeling somehow". Martinu

devoted himself more to the cello than any other composer of his generation,

writing both chamber works and concertos. The present recording of his

complete works for cello and piano was made at the Musik Akademie Basel,

just a few kilometres from Schonenberg, where Martinu spent the last years

of his life. The works were mostly written for famous cellists who were often

the composer's friends (Frank, Cassado, Fournier, Honegger, Piatigorsky, Sádlo

etc.). He wrote five compositions in a lighter character in Paris between 1929

and 1931. The more serious works (three sonatas and two compositions in

variation 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 it

one hears unmistakeably his yearning for the homeland to which he could not

return. The young Vilem Vlcek has enjoyed success at competitions (victory

at the Penderecki Cello Competition in Krakow, the 2023 Markneukirchen

International Instrumental Competition, the 2022 Rahn Musikpreis etc.)

and has worked with top orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague

Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber

Orchestra etc.), but above all, what wins over listeners is the expressive depth

of his playing, inspired on this recording by the musicianship of the wonderful

pianist Denis Linnik.