Bohuslav Martinů - Music for Violin and Orchestra Vol. 4 (Bohuslav Matoušek; Christopher Hogwood)

Information

Composer: Bohuslav Martinů

• (01) Violin Concerto No. 1, H 226
• (04) Violin Concerto No. 2, H 293

Bohuslav Matoušek, violin
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Christopher Hogwood, conductor

Date: 2008
Label: Hyperion
https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67674

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Review

The final set in Hyperion's Martinu survey brings us more excellent playing

Martinu's two violin concertos have very different histories. The First was created for Dushkin in 1931, much tinkered with over the next few years and then "lost" until Halbreich unearthed it in 1968. The Second (1943) was written in just two months for Mischa Elman, premiered before the year was out and taken up by several violinists soon afterwards, often being programmed unnumbered until its predecessor came to light.

Josef Suk set the benchmark for both but his recordings, still in the Supraphon catalogue, have been overtaken by this newcomer and, in No 2, by Isabelle Faust's superb recent account (Harmonia Mundi, 8/08). Matousek and Hogwood certainly have the measure of both scores and in the Second run Faust and Belohlavek close. I do like the latter's expansive approach in the central Andante moderato where Matousek and Hogwood are two minutes swifter (and Suk and Neumann faster still) but I really cannot choose between them. Couplings may prove decisive, not least the best available Toccata e due canzone (Faust) or the Viola Rhapsody-Concerto (Suk); my recommendation is for the Hyperion set as a whole (Vol 3 includes the Rhapsody-Concerto) but I would not want to be without the Harmonia Mundi. Concerto No 1 was formerly available on Supraphon with the Suite concertante's second version included on Vol 3 (7/08), although the published recording dates of the Suite suggested otherwise (Hyperion says it is correcting this on future issues). Strongly recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

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Bohuslav Martinů (December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. Martinů began as a violinist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In the early 1930s he found his main font for compositional style, the neo-classical as developed by Stravinsky. With this, he expanded to become a prolific composer, who wrote almost 400 pieces, included 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He is compared with Prokofiev and Bartók in his innovative incorporation of Central European ethnomusicology into his music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF

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Bohuslav Matoušek (born in Havlíčkův Brod, 26 September 1949) is a Czech violinist and violist. He studied in the classes of Jaroslav Pekelský and Václav Snítil at Prague's Academy of Music. Matoušek  has cooperated with such conductors as Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein, and orchestras as the Czech Philharmonic and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1985 he co-founded and performed as the primarius of the Stamic Quartet. Matoušek teaches at The Academy of Musical Arts in Prague, and at The Janacek Academy of Musical Arts in Brno.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Matou%C5%A1ek
http://www.bohuslavmatousek.cz/

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Christopher Hogwood (10 September 1941 – 24 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music (1973), he was an authority on historically informed performance and a leading figure in the early music revival of the late 20th century. Although best known for baroque and early classical repertoire, he also performed contemporary music, especially the neo-baroque and neoclassical schools, including many works by Stravinsky, Martinů and Hindemith. Hogwood also made many solo recordings of harpsichord works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hogwood

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