Claves Record

Bohuslav Martinu: the three cello sonatas performed by the Zappa – Mainolfi Duo

Although he did not play the instrument himself, Bohuslav Martinu was particularly fond of the cello, and this affinity is reflected in his music. In particular, he wrote three sonatas for the instrument over the space of some fifteen years, years marked by great political tensions and upheavals. The first sonata was composed in Paris in 1940 and was a reaction to the Munich Agreement, deplored by all Czechoslovakians. The second sonata was one of the first works that Martinu wrote during his exile in America. And the third was written in Washington in 1953, first spawned during his vacation in Vieux Moulin, France in the summer of 1952. The passions and torments of this history captivated the Zappa – Mainolfi Duo. Their dazzling performance of these sonatas, a coproduction with DeutschlandRadioBerlin, marks their debut with Claves.