Jitka Čechová, Jan Palenicek - Martinu: Works for Cello & Piano (2004)

Following his arrival in the United States in 1941, Bohuslav Martinu abandoned neo-Classicism and the "Back to Bach" aesthetic that marked many of his European works, and instead found a more personal idiom: derived in part from his admiration for Brahms, Dvorák, and other Romantic Classicists, but also freely developed through his own strongly lyrical impulses. The Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 for cello and piano (1941 and 1952, respectively), are clearly in this new mode of expression, and Martinu's close observance of the rules of sonata form -- which approaches the point of stiff imitation -- is ameliorated by his expansive melodic writing for the cello, which is almost vocal in its contours. The Variations on a Slovak Folk Song (1959) and the Variations on a Theme of Rossini (1942) are more virtuosic fare, and show Martinu in a more entertaining vein; indeed, the transformations of Ked' bych já vedela are intensely showy and emotionally over the top, and the flashy manipulations of Rossini's theme from the opera Moses -- on which Paganini also wrote variations -- are extravagant, to say the least. Cellist Jan Pálenícek and pianist Jitka Cechová are robust and richly expressive in these works, and reveal an abiding sympathy for their compatriot's often overlooked works. The reproduction is excellent, especially in its depth and presence.