This Naxos release of just a few of the chamber works by Bohuslav Martinu includes all the larger works involving the flute and piano, and despite any weightiness that statement implies, and despite the formal titles and structures of these works, there is more whimsy in these than the unsuspecting listener might expect. Martinu is considered a Czech composer, although he spent much of his career abroad, and like other Czech composers, he frequently uses elements of folk music. However, his music seems to have been equally ...
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This Naxos release of just a few of the chamber works by Bohuslav Martinu includes all the larger works involving the flute and piano, and despite any weightiness that statement implies, and despite the formal titles and structures of these works, there is more whimsy in these than the unsuspecting listener might expect. Martinu is considered a Czech composer, although he spent much of his career abroad, and like other Czech composers, he frequently uses elements of folk music. However, his music seems to have been equally influenced by French modern music. The results of the combination of those things, in this chamber music, are animated energy, clean lines, and tinges of Impressionistic colorings or jazz harmonies, all of which can be recognized in these performances featuring flutist Fenwick Smith, pianist Sally Pinkas, and their Boston-based colleagues. The liveliness of Martinu's writing comes primarily from his use of brief rhythmic patterns, based on Czech folk dances or sounds of nature -- as...
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