Martinu Cello Sonatas

Cellist Johannes Moser and pianist Andrei Korobeinikov present Bohuslav Martinů’s complete cello sonatas. After their award-winning recording of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninov from 2016, Johannes Moser and Andrei Korobeinikov present Martinů’s three Cello Sonatas, substantive pieces that very much reflect the composer's life of displacement (to the USA), of war yet also of hope.

The Sonatas are not presented in numerical order, but let’s start here with the Cello Sonata No. 1, H. 277. It was composed in 1939 (when the composer was based in Paris; he moved there in 1923 to study with Albert Roussel). The first movement, in the key of B flat minor, is decidedly jittery - as Gavin Plumley says in his excellent booklet notes, it is “like an intemperate danse macabre” with the cellist's stoppings acting as a brake to the ongoing momentum. Yet there is joy, there, too, particularly in the brightness of some of the piano chords, beautifully delivered by Korobeinikov; Moser’s cello sings beautifully, ardently all the while.

The central Lento is tortured, its melodic themes beautifully projected by Moser, its chorale-like demeanor in total contrast to the rather manic finale (in a virtuoso performance from both Moser Korobeinikov - what makes this release so special is the way the two musicians are so attuned). The piece ends in a sudden blaze of hard-won, semi-triumph.

This truly is chamber music of the highest order. It is hard to imagine a finer combination of stunning performances and demonstration-standard recording.

Martinů’s three cello sonatas are among his finest chamber works. Composed in the spring of 1939, the First Sonata is shadowed by anxiety at the approach of World War II. Johannes Moser and Andrei Korobeinikov capture superbly the determination of the outer movements and its occasional moments of pure radiance. Three years later, having escaped Europe, Martinů wrote his Second Cello Sonata living in much more settled circumstances in and around New York. The work reflects the relaxed happiness he felt in the company of its dedicatee, the Czech cellist and pupil of Janáček, Frank Rybka with whom he stayed for many months.

Moser and Korobeinikov once again get to the heart of the work’s combination of assertive development as well as the often generous lyricism which looks forward to the symphonic works of the 1940s. Both players grasp instinctively the catchy, irregular rhythms that characterise many of the melodic lines and which the composer was keen should lie at the heart of any successful performance.

The Third Sonata was composed ten years later in France in memory of Martinů’s friend, the cello virtuoso Hans Kindler. The duo bring genuine depth to the sweetly elegiac opening of the first movement. Much of the remainder of the Sonata has an infectious impetus often reminiscent of the Sixth Symphony composed at the same time. The recording provides a fine balance between the instruments and as a whole these performances bring together affection and brilliance in persuasive readings that stand high in a strong field.