Two of the Bohuslav Martinu piano trios recorded here were written in France, and two in the U.S. (where Martinu was, among other things, a teacher of Burt Bacharach). Yet there is something Czech about all of it, and this release by the Smetana Trio may be the recording of choice for the group. As a whole you might label the music neoclassic, but each work departs far enough from that label to make it meaningless. The must-have item here is the Bergerettes, H 275, of 1939, a set of five short dances that beautifully ...
Read More
Two of the Bohuslav Martinu piano trios recorded here were written in France, and two in the U.S. (where Martinu was, among other things, a teacher of Burt Bacharach). Yet there is something Czech about all of it, and this release by the Smetana Trio may be the recording of choice for the group. As a whole you might label the music neoclassic, but each work departs far enough from that label to make it meaningless. The must-have item here is the Bergerettes, H 275, of 1939, a set of five short dances that beautifully integrate da capo -form, Baroque dances with Czech folk rhythm and tonality. Unaccountably neglected, these works were published only in the 1960s. Sample the subtle mode mixture of the third "Bergerette, Andantino" (track 6), The Piano Trio No. 1 of 1930 is a fine specimen of inter-war chamber music, with an edgy harmonic idiom and hints of jazz. The two later trios have become possible to perform again with the fall of the modernist diktat. Both add a Romantic expressiveness to the...
Read Less
Add this copy of Bohuslav Martinu: the Complete Piano Trios to cart. $36.72, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Supraphon.
