Josef Spacek - Bohuslav Martinu: Violin Concertos: Stravinsky: [CD]

Josef Spacek and Petr Popelka once again in the story of Martinu's musicand life! "I'll also be writing a violin concerto for an American, the same personStravinsky wrote one for; that will be good advertising for me, but also a lotof work." For Bohuslav Martinu, the violin was the instrument especially closeto his heart, but it was also companion. He played in the Czech Philharmonicas a violinist, and it was the violin that took him to Paris, the city whichenchanted him and become his home for 17 years before the war drovehim to America. More than once, the violin was his introduction to the "highsociety" of the music world. The American from the quoted letter wasthe star violinist Samuel Dushkin. The violinist praised the work and Martinu("He really is a nice fellow. [...] he has a very exceptional sense for the violin"),but he constantly demanded more and more changes to the concerto,and in the end the performance did not take place. The score was lost,then it was rediscovered and finally premiered in 1973 by Josef Suk withthe Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Georg Solti. At the time whenMartinu's First Violin Concerto was being written, it was the same AmericanDushkin who was collaborating with Igor Stravinsky on a different work basedon music from the neoclassical ballet The Fairy's Kiss; together, they werecreating a lovely suite titled Divertimento for violin and piano. In 1943, it wasMischa Elman, another star violinist, who commissioned Martinu's SecondViolin Concerto. Elman also gave the concerto it's world premiere withthe Boston Symphony Orchestra and Serge Koussevitzky. With a new lookat Martinu's violin concertos, Josef Spacek and Petr Popelka are followingup on their acclaimed album with Martinu's Concerto for violin, piano, andorchestra (Supraphon 2023). Once again, they prove that there is alwayssomething to discover and to admire in the music of Bohuslav Martinu.