Giorgio Koukl, the pianist on this album, is considered one of the world's leading interpreters of Martinu's piano music.
Composer Biography
Martinu was a prolific composer, with over four hundred pieces of music to his credit, beginning his composing at age ten.
Composer Biography
Bohuslav Martinu, the composer, was born in a church tower in Policčka, a small Bohemian town in what is now the Czech Republic.
Performer Biography
Giorgio Koukl first encountered Martinu's music during master-classes with Rudolf Firkušný, a friend and advocate of the composer.
Recording & Production
The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra, featured on this recording, is based in Zlín, Czech Republic, a modern industrial center developed by the BATA company.
Historical Context
Giorgio Koukl moved to Switzerland in 1968, the same year Soviet tanks rolled into Prague, mirroring Martinu's own move to Switzerland in 1938 to escape the Nazis.
Historical Context
Martinu moved to the United States in the early 1940s to escape the spreading Nazi occupation of Europe and later abandoned plans to return home after a communist coup in Czechoslovakia.
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Piano Protagonists
Eymard, Manu Martin: Lim Cosmic Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, Act III: II. Come Orbit with Me
Françaix: Piano Concerto
Concertos for Piano & Strings
Gould: Dance Variations (Recorded 1953)
Guarnieri, M.C.: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3
Busoni - Piano Concerto
Montsalvatge: Concerto Breve / Surinach: Piano Concerto
