Piano Concertos Vol 1: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 / Concertino

"No 3, with its occasional flashes of Brahmsian or even late-Mozartian sonorities, has never sounded lighter or more vivacious than here. In the Fifth, which has often sounded mechanical in previous recordings, the music leaps off the page. Koukl receives splendid support from the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra of Zlín under Arthur Fagen and Naxos's sound is first rate, clear and bright with the right balance between soloist and orchestra. Warmly recommended." Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice March 2010

Martinů was an immensely prolific and varied composer with an impressive list of orchestral compositions including six symphonies and five piano concertos. The three works for piano and orchestra on this disc span twenty years of the Czech composer's peripatetic career, from the Concertino (Paris, 1938) to the Third Piano Concerto (New York, 1948) and the Fifth Piano Concerto (Schönenberg-Pratteln, Switzerland 1958). As with his complete solo piano music, also available on Naxos, Martinů's immediately recognisable style here combines shimmering virtuosity and impressionistic effects, motoric rhythms and pristine harmonies.