 Le second disque de l’album parle d’un temps heureux que Martinu ne retrouvera pas : les Nocturnes, les Pastorales, les Arabesques, la Suite miniature, la Romance, l’Ariette sont imprégnés par cette fantaisie suractive typique des années parisiennes. Les motifs populaires s’y marient avec l’impertinence des traits, ce que l’archet leste de Vilem Vicek, qui anime son beau violoncelle romantique napolitain signé Lorenzo Ventapane, saisit avec un brio qui n’exclut pas la poésie. Le piano vif de Denis Linnik est au diapason de cette lecture animée, il se fera autrement sombre, et quasi orchestral pour les trois Sonates, surtout les deux premières, enfants troublés du temps de guerre, où Martinu ouvre la porte de sa seconde manière, réflexive, secrète, à la lyrique teintée d’amertume. Un peu de rêve encore dans l’admirable Lento de la Première Sonate, alors que le Largo de la Deuxième est un quasi-kaddish. La Troisième Sonate regardera ailleurs, comme les deux cahiers de Variations tardifs. À jamais loin de son pays natal, Martinu en retrouve l’esprit par les thèmes populaires, les chants et les danses de Moravie ou de Slovaquie, tout un paradis plus renoncé que perdu où s’invite une touche nostalgique que ce beau duo saisit avec mieux que de la poésie, une tendresse qui rend leur somme précieuse dans une discographie relativement abondante mais rarement aussi inspirée. Et si maintenant, fort de ce beau succès, Vilem Vicek osait les Concertos ? (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé) In 1910, when the director of the Prague Conservatoire expelled Martinu from the school because of his “incorrigible negligence”, he assuredly had no idea the 20-year-old youth would become one of the most famous composers of the 20th century. Three years later, the young student sold his violin in Paris to be able to concentrate fully on composition. About his beginnings, the composer later declared that he was “simply unable to learn those things”, and instead had to “come up with my own feeling somehow”. Martinu devoted himself more to the cello than any other composer of his generation, writing both chamber works and concertos. The present recording of his complete works for cello and piano was made at the Musik Akademie Basel, just a few kilometres from Schönenberg, where Martinu spent the last years of his life. The works were mostly written for famous cellists who were often the composer’s friends (Frank, Cassadó, Fournier, Honegger, Piatigorsky, Sádlo etc.). He wrote five compositions in a lighter character in Paris between 1929 and 1931. The more serious works (three sonatas and two compositions in variation form) were written between 1939 and the end of the composer’s life; the Variations on a Slovak Folk Song became his last chamber work, and in it one hears unmistakeably his yearning for the homeland to which he could not return. The young Vilém Vlcek has enjoyed success at competitions (victory at the Penderecki Cello Competition in Krakow, the 2023 Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition, the 2022 Rahn Musikpreis etc.) and has worked with top orchestras (the Czech Philharmonic, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Chamber Orchestra etc.), but above all, what wins over listeners is the expressive depth of his playing, inspired on this recording by the musicianship of the wonderful pianist Denis Linnik.
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