Gramophone Magazine
August 2025
Editor's Choice

Vilém Vlček (cello), Denis Linnik (piano)

Martinů: Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 1, H. 277
Martinů: Variations on a Theme of Rossini
Martinů: Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 2, H. 286
Martinů: Sonata for Cello & Piano No. 3, H. 340
Martinů: Variations on a Slovak folksong for Cello & Piano, H. 378
Martinů: Seven Arabesques. Rhytmic Etudes for Violin and Piano, H. 201
Martinů: Suite miniature, H. 192
Martinů: Pastorales (6) for Cello and Piano
Martinů: Romance, H. 186bis
Martinů: Nocturnes (4) for Cello and Piano
Martinů: Ariette for Violin and Piano, H. 188

In 1910, when the director of the Prague Conservatoire expelled Martinu from the school because of his "incorrigible negligence", he assuredly had no idea the 20-year-old youth would become one of the most famous composers of the 20th century. Three years later, the young student sold his violin in Paris to be able to concentrate fully on composition. About his beginnings, the composer later declared that he was "simply unable to learn those things", and instead had to "come up with my own feeling somehow". Martinu devoted himself more to the cello than any other composer of his generation, writing both chamber works and concertos.

The present recording of his complete works for cello and piano was made at the Musik Akademie Basel, just a few kilometres from Schonenberg, where Martinu spent the last years of his life. The works were mostly written for famous cellists who were often the composer's friends (Frank, Cassado, Fournier, Honegger, Piatigorsky, Sadlo etc.). He wrote five compositions in a lighter character in Paris between 1929 and 1931. The more serious works (three sonatas and two compositions in variation form) were written between 1939 and the end of the composer's life; the Variations on a Slovak Folk Song became his last chamber work, and in it one hears unmistakeably his yearning for the homeland to which he could not return.

The young Vilém Vlček has enjoyed success at competitions (victory at the Penderecki Cello Competition in Krakow, the 2023 Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition, the 2022 Rahn Musikpreis etc.) and has worked with top orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra etc.), but above all, what wins over listeners is the expressive depth of his playing, inspired on this recording by the musicianship of the wonderful pianist Denis Linnik.