Martinu: Bergerettes - Five Pieces for Violin, Cello and Piano

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů excelled in chamber music and made a substantial contribution to the piano trio repertoire of the twentieth century, his keen ear for balance and sonority finding here a perfect medium for his music. Trio No. 1, Cinq pièces brèves, written in an appealing and virtuosic neo-classical style in Paris in 1930, was admired by Stravinsky. Trios Nos. 2 and 3, composed in America in 1951, are more ambitious in scope and notable for their rhythmic verve and unpredictability, ingratiating themes and elegiac slow movements.

Martinu wrote no less than ten scores for trio with keyboard, including four in the classic formation of piano, violin and cello, spread out between 1930 and 1951.The charming Bergerettes make up a modest pastorale in the spirit of the cantata Kytice.Trio No. 2 pays homage to Fauré, whereas the last Trio prefigures the expressive power of the Fantaisies symphoniques (Symphony No.6), sketched out at the beginning of May 1951 in New York. The Kinsky Trio is heir to the famed Czech tradition, from the Suk Trio and Vlach Quartet to the Guarneri Trio, Kocian and Pražák quartets…