Bohuslav Martinů - Music for Violin and Orchestra Vol. 3 (Matoušek; Hogwood)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů

• Suite concertante for violin and orchestra, H 276
• Suite concertante for violin and orchestra, H 276a
• Rhapsody-Concerto for viola and orchestra, H 337

Bohuslav Matoušek, violin & viola

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Christopher Hogwood, conductor

Date: 2008

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Martinu’s Suite concertante has as chequered a history as any work I know. Commissioned in 1938 by Samuel Dushkin – who premiered Stravinsky’s Concerto and for whom Martinu had already written his then-still-unperformed First Concerto – Martinu planned a set of five Czech dances for violin and orchestra. Completed in early 1939, Dushkin’s efforts to secure a performance proved vain until 1943, and then in a violin-with-piano reduction, the orchestral version (minus its central Scherzo-caprice which is lost) only being premiered in 2000. Dushkin requested a revision but received a new four-movement work (1943-44) of which only the opening movement has much connection with its precursor. Successfully premiered in 1945 and published, the new Suite languished unplayed until 1999.

I am at a loss to explain such neglect. Both versions are delightful, appealing in idiom, avoiding full-concerto gravitas and brightly scored. The first version’s Meditation is rather elegiac and may, as Ales Brezina suggests in the booklet, reflect Martinu’s faltering liaison with his former pupil, Vítezslava Kaprálová. Matouek, who premiered the first version and revived the second (recording it with Hogwood for Supraphon), plays both with great understanding and finesse: the music needs lightness of touch and receives it here. Both versions of the Suite run out somewhat longer than Dushkin’s projected timings but the tempi feel right. In the Rhapsody-Concerto Matouek shows himself as adept a viola-player as he is violinist, sweeter-toned than Telecky and a match for Imai and Bukac. Hogwood and the Czech Philharmonic again provide immaculate accompaniments, Hyperion’s sound in Prague’s Rudolfinum preferable to BIS’s in Malmö. (The rivals are all mixed-composer discs.) This third volume in Hyperion’s invaluable series is as desirable as its predecessors: highly recommended.

— Guy Rickards

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Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He was a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. Martinů was a prolific composer who wrote almost 400 pieces. Many of his works are regularly performed or recorded, among them his oratorio The Epic of Gilgamesh, his six symphonies, concertos, chamber music, a flute sonata, a clarinet sonatina and many others. Martinů's notable students include Alan Hovhaness, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Jan Novák and many others.

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Bohuslav Matoušek (born 26 September 1949) is a Czech violinist and violist. He studied at Prague's Academy of Music and with Arthur Grumiaux, Nathan Milstein and Wolfgang Schneiderhan. After winning first prize at the 1972 Prague Spring Competition, he became leader of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. From 1980 to 1995, he led and recorded extensively with the Stamic Quartet. Since 1995, he has focused more on solo and chamber music, notably collaborating with pianist Petr Adamec. Their recordings of Martinu’s works earned critical acclaim and a Cannes Classical Award in 2001.

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Christopher Hogwood (10 September 1941 – 24 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, and musicologist known for his work in historically informed performance. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and trained by noted musicians such as Raymond Leppard, Gustav Leonhardt and Zuzana Růžičková. In 1973 he founded the Academy of Ancient Music which became renowned for performing Baroque and Classical music on period instruments. Hogwood also explored Romantic and modern repertoire, especially neobaroque and neoclassical works by Stravinsky, Martinů, and Hindemith.

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