Album of the Month by Gramophone Magazine - Martinů: Complete Works for Cello and Piano

The new album by cellist Vilém Vlček and pianist Denis Linnik, Martinů: Complete Works for Cello and Piano (Supraphon, 2025), has been awarded Gramophone Magazine's Album of the Month!

The recording of Bohuslav Martinů's complete work for cello and piano was made at the Music Academy in Basel, just a few kilometres from Schönenberg, where Martinů spent the last years of his life. He wrote the pieces mostly for important cellists, often his friends (Frank, Cassadó, Fournier, Honegger, Piatigorsky, Sádlo, etc.). Five of his more light-hearted pieces were written in Paris between 1929 and 1931. The more serious works, three sonatas and two pieces in the form of variations, were written from 1939 until the end of the composer's life. The Variations on a Slovak Folk Song is his last chamber work and one cannot help but feel homesick for the home to which Martinů could no longer return.

The double album captures the wide range of emotions and musical styles that the composer created for piano and cello during his lifetime. From the light-hearted compositions of his Parisian years to the dramatic and deeply felt compositions of the wartime period to the masterpieces of his later years, the recording is a testament to the composer's unbreakable musical vision.

Cellist Vilém Vlček, praised for his technical brilliance, expressiveness and depth of musical expression, combines with the mastery of pianist Denis Linnik to become the ideal guide to the world of Martinů. Their interpretation gives listeners a credible insight into the composer's soul, with every note thoughtful and every chord resonating with the emotions that Bohuslav Martinů put into his music.

Vilém Vlček said, "It was a great challenge to record this album. It was especially important for us to make every little piece, every phrase of the sonata, every variation, really come alive. It should not be an intellectual wrestling with an extensive programme, but that the recording should become an organic material. To do that, we first had to find out how each of these compositions breathes, works, what its characteristics are, and what role it plays within the whole. It was really a lot of effort, but it was worth it."

Source: https://www.supraphon.cz/novinky/27796