Smetana Trio - Martinu: The Complete Piano Trios (2016)

The complete set of Bohuslav Martins piano trios affords a fascinating insight into the constant transformations of his musical idiom from the early 1930s to the 1950s, also giving testimony to the composer as a human and his particular mindset. The first, five- movement, trio, Cinq pièces brèves (1930) was written in a carefree manner (within a mere ten days) and intuitively. It is the very first Martin piece to reflect his penchant for Neo–Baroque music, so salient a trait of his later creations. The second trio, Bergerettes, comes across as surprisingly light- hearted, given the time of its coming into being in February 1939, a month prior to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and half a year before the outbreak of World War II … The last two piano trios, composed in the 1950s, bear all the features of Martins mature musical phraseology. Trio No. 2, completed in 1950, ranks among the apices of Martins Neo–Classicist period, while the structurally more complex Trio No. 3 (also known as the Grand Trio) has a concertante nature. The recording of the complete Martin trios was made by the renowned Smetana Trio, who masterfully render all the colour shades, from airiness to the broad lyrical cantilena typical of Martins late works. The first new Supraphon album of the complete Martin piano trios in more than 30 years

Tracklist:
01. Piano trio No.3 in C major, H332 (1951) - I. Allegro moderato
02. Piano trio No.3 in C major, H332 (1951) - II. Andante
03. Piano trio No.3 in C major, H332 (1951) - III. Allegro
04. Bergerettes, H275 (1939) - I. Poco allegro
05. Bergerettes, H275 (1939) - II. Allegro con brio
06. Bergerettes, H275 (1939) - III. Andantino
07. Bergerettes, H275 (1939) - IV. Allegro moderato
08. Bergerettes, H275 (1939) - V. Moderato
09. Piano trio No.2 in D minor, H327 (1950) - I. Allegro moderato
10. Piano trio No.2 in D minor, H327 (1950) - II. Andante
11. Piano trio No.2 in D minor, H327 (1950) - III. Allegro
12. Piano trio No.1 in C minor, H193 (1930), "Cinq pieces breves" - I. Allegro moderato
13. Piano trio No.1 in C minor, H193 (1930), "Cinq pieces breves" - II. Adagio
14. Piano trio No.1 in C minor, H193 (1930), "Cinq pieces breves" - III. Allegro
15. Piano trio No.1 in C minor, H193 (1930), "Cinq pieces breves" - IV. Allegro moderato
16. Piano trio No.1 in C minor, H193 (1930), "Cinq pieces breves" - V. Allegro con brio