Sonata for Violin and Piano op. 4

Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959) was born in Polička, Bohemia, a country with a living musical tradition. By the age of ten he was already composing, and in 1906 a patron enabled him to enrol at the Prague Conservatoire, where he studied violin with Josef Suk. It was composition, however, that remained his principal centre of interest, and in 1923, armed with a modest grant, he set off for Paris where he studied with Albert Roussel. His music shows the influence of Stravinsky, jazz, and of Debussy whom he admired above all other. In 1940 he had to leave France and lived at first in the United States, then again in France, in Nice, then Rome, and finally in Switzerland where he died in Liestal, home of the conductor Paul Sacher.

Lista utworów:
Sonata nr 1 (Martinů Bohuslav)

Of the Six Sonates pour divers instruments Claude Debussy only completed three. The present Sonate pour violoncelle et piano was the first of the late group of sonatas begun in 1915. As in the case of the sonata for flute, viola and harp and the sonata for violin, the model taken is not the dualist sonata form ov Viennese classicism but the monothematic sonata of 17th and 18th century France. Particulary the works of François Couperin had an influence on Debussy's composition.

Lista utworów:
Sonata (Debussy Claude)

Fauré's "Sicilienne" exists in several versions. Composed in 1893 as part of incidental music for Moliere's "Le Bourgeois gentilhomme", it remained unheard in this form as the theatre went bankrupt. A surviving manuscript from this time shows the piece scored for flute, oboe, and string quartet. In April 1898 Fauré incorporates it into his incidental music for Maeterlinck's "Pelléas et Mélisande", as an introduction to the fountain scene where Mélisande loses her ring. At the same time he made a reducion for solo piano and a version for cello and piano, the latter dedicated to the English cellist William Henry Squire. The authorship of the arrengement for violin is not known; it is probably not by Fauré. Fauré composed "Elégie" in 1880, possibly as a part of a sonata that was never completed. The public premiere was given in Paris by its dedicate, Jules Loëb, accompanied by Fauré, on 15 December 1883.

Lista utworów:
Elégie c-Moll op. 24 (Fauré Gabriel)
Sicilienne g-Moll op. 78 (Fauré Gabriel)

Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski - composer, pianist and teacher, was born in Warsaw on 21 January 1859. The period of his activity as a composer was short, lasting barely ten years, during which period he wrote approximately thirty works; eleven of them were lost. He composed mainly instrumental works, several of which - the shorter ones - were published during his lifetime. Two trends may clearly be distinguished throughout his oeuvre. The first is represented by his early works which do not differ significantly from contemporary Polish compositional conventions, even trhough they are frequently characterized by more interesting features, especially in harmonic content. The second trend comprises compositions characterized by experimental tendencies and, for the time and conditions precailing in contemporary Poland, audacious attempts at modernization of his musical language equalling sometimes the innovations of Wagner. This trend features bold, tonal juxtapositions, and the use of dissonant chord successions, while melody of an ornamental-figurative type ceases to be the foreground musical element in favour of harmonies. The autograph of the score of the Trio in G minor for violin, cello and piano is to be found in the library of the Warsaw Music Society. The Trio in G minor consists of three movements. The first of them is in sonata form, the second in ternary form (ABA), and the third is a rondo.

Lista utworów:
Trio g-moll op. 13 (Rutkowski Antoni)