performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jirí Bělohlávek, or in an actual video that doesn’t have a weird stock photo with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Andrés Orozco-Estrada You cannot change a single note…it is a classical symphony… Serge Koussevitzky (cover … Continue reading Martinů Symphony no. 1, H. 289
performed by Josef Suk and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Václav Neumann “…for me this will mean great publicity, as well as a great deal of work.” Martinů, of his first violin concerto (cover image by Gonard Fluit) He was wrong. … Continue reading Martinů Violin Concerto no. 1, H. 226
performed by the Martinů Quartet, available from Spotify on this album (cover image by Chris Barbalis) Martinů’s brilliantly engaging second quartet was written in 1925, and published in 1927. Depending on the source, it was written either “in Paris” (says Keith Anderson … Continue reading Martinů String Quartet no. 2, H. 150
performed by Emil Leichner, or below by Paul Kaspar (the above video should start at 27:45) (cover image by Rhendi Rukmana) If you assumed from the ‘book III’ in the title of this work that there exist books I and II … Continue reading Martinů: Puppets, Book III
performed by János Starker, cello; Rudolf Firkušný, piano, or below by Jan Páleníček, cello; Jitka Čechová, piano The third cello sonata occupies ground somewhere between that of the concerto and the symphony. Its form is fluid… The looser process of constant evolution, … Continue reading Martinů Cello Sonata no. 3, H. 340
performed by János Starker and Rudolf Firkušný, or below by John Walz, cello; Edith Orloff, piano Imagine being in a foreign country and hearing news of the Nazi invasion of the country your family still inhabits. What kind of music would … Continue reading Martinů Cello Sonata No. 1, H. 277
performed by the late Fredell Lack and Timothy Hester, or below by Markéta Janoušková, violin; Václav Mácha, piano (Before we begin this article, I’d like to take a moment to discuss Fredell Lack. This article had been scheduled for months, … Continue reading Martinů Violin Sonata no. 1, H. 182
performed by the Panocha Quartet (Oops! We have a rare case with no YouTube video for the work. If you’re intent on hearing it, you can purchase the first three movements individually from iTunes, part of the Panocha quartet set. Since … Continue reading Martinů String Quartet no. 1, H. 117, ‘French Quartet’
Fugue for Thought 