BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ

Bohuslav Martinů is, perhaps, the most famous 20th-century Czech composer. His oeuvre amounts to about 400 opuses including15 operas, 16 ballets, symphonic works, instrumental concerti, 7 string quartets, vocal opuses, music for films. The composer admired the traditions of his compatriots A. Dvořák and J. Suk, followed in the footsteps of the impressionist C. Debussy, and commended the expressiveness of I. Stravinski’s music. However, entering a mature creative period, he woven intonations of Czech folklore into his music and developed his idiosyncratic neo-baroque style. Unique and distinctive is Martinů’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra. Its characteristic feature is the juxtaposition of toccata-like fast movements and the second movement – slow fantasy. Piano parts are dominated by sharp rhythmic and diverse harmonic complexity, glowing and virtuoso passages in which both pianists can showcase their greatest artistic and technical mastery. The Concerto was premiered by P. Luboschütz and G. Nemenoff Duo and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by E. Ormandy, in November, 1943.

The rarely programmed Martinů’s opus is performed by Lithuanian pianists Gintaras Januševičius (residing in Germany) and Indrė Baikštytė, and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Tung-Chieh Chuang (Taiwan).