Classical Music | Music for Duo

Recorded on 12/21/2016, uploaded on 07/10/2017

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Martinů wrote three sonatas for cello and piano between 1939 and 1952. The second sonata, written in New York City in 1941, uses the most standard form of all three sonatas. The first movement is an Allegro, and opens with an intense introduction played by the piano alone. The cello joins in with anxious and energetic lyricism, and the two instruments meander together through the ABA form. The second movement is a Largo, and is somber and anguished in character. The final movement is an Allegro, but it is livelier and somewhat lighter than the first movement. Near the end of the movement, there is a solo cello cadenza, which is unusual within the genre.      Notes by Ruth Marshall

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.