Bohuslav Martinů - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, H. 149

Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959) - Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, H. 149 (1925)

I. Allegro moderato [0:00]
II. Andante [10:42]
III. Allegro [18:28]

Emil Leichner, piano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek (1989)

Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 1 is a work in three movements composed in 1925. The work typically lasts around 30 minutes.

"Martinů’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1, H. 149, written in 1925, was given its première the following year by the pianist Jan Heřman and the Czech Philharmonic, conducted by Robert Manzer. The first movement, Allegro moderato, is totally delightful from start to finish. Brilliant tunes are treated in a fashion designed to appeal even to less sophisticated listeners. Even the fugal passages are fun. There is something of the trademark Martinů cross-rhythmic patterns along with echoes of Prokofiev and Poulenc, and even a smattering of English band music. This is Martinů at his tuneful and playful best.

A chorale-like tune serves as the foundation of the Andante second movement, a set of variations much in the nature of a neo-baroque chorale-prelude. It begins with orchestral strings and a solo oboe. The piano joins in an understated fashion like Bloch’s Concerto Grosso but it gradually becomes more brilliant with shades of Ravel’s Ondine. A stunningly impressive cadenza evolves into a Lisztian treatment and from there into pure Martinů before the movement returns to the calm sounds of the opening of the movement.

Neo-baroque references continue in the Allegro third movement, sounding much like something Vivaldi might have written had he lived during the early twentieth century. A fugal passage which serves as second theme is full of charm and delight. The middle of the movement reminds us that Martinů had not finished working with the chorale from the second movement. A final romp through the first and second themes brings this movement to a close with a constant feeling of tongue-in-cheek high frivolity. There is a sense that Martinů is daring us to guess whom he is quoting: Is that a bit of the Liszt Spanish Rhapsody there, or is it Gottschalk? Of course the movement cannot end without a cadenza featuring the bells that permeate so much of Martinů’s music."

(source: Naxos)