The chamber music of Bohuslav Martinu, more French than Czech, suggests the music Debussy might have written had he lived to experience the full flowering of the neo-classic movement. No one would claim that it has a large emotional range, but for the imaginative use of textures within a restricted environment it's unmatched. The simplest pizzicato seems to carry all kinds of suspense, even as the general mood of the music remains blithe, even sunny in the case of the Sonata for flute and piano, H. 308, written as Martinu ...
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The chamber music of Bohuslav Martinu, more French than Czech, suggests the music Debussy might have written had he lived to experience the full flowering of the neo-classic movement. No one would claim that it has a large emotional range, but for the imaginative use of textures within a restricted environment it's unmatched. The simplest pizzicato seems to carry all kinds of suspense, even as the general mood of the music remains blithe, even sunny in the case of the Sonata for flute and piano, H. 308, written as Martinu waited out World War II on Cape Cod. This Canadian recording includes a pair of fairly uncommon pieces with the word "madrigal" in the title; the Five Madrigal Stanzas for violin and piano, H. 297, are even more unusual in that they were dedicated to, and apparently first performed by, Albert Einstein on the violin. Their madrigalian qualities are subtle, and those immersed in neo-classic music may enjoy trying to pick them out. Martinu does not much alter his usual slightly extended...
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