The Concerto for violin and piano uses none of those special techniques at the violinist's disposal, not even pizzicato or staccato, and with only one brief exception (at the close of the second movement) there is no double stopping, nor are there any runs. In fact, this is no concerto, but rather a playful sonatina of a didactic nature, quite inaccurate in its title, which was perhaps an attempt on Martinů's part to bewilder the listener. None of the composer's more substantial works is so firmly tonally anchored as is this "Concerto", in which Martinů departs from his principal tonality only occasionally and for brief moments, always "as if he were setting out from Polička on a ten-mile walk and then, homesick, turning back after two miles to return home again" (Petr Rybář). The obscurity of the Elegy, H 3, an obscurity not quite authentic, arising not so much from true personal experience as from the influence of the Decadent literature of the period upon Martinů, has been quite forgotten here; in the Concerto for violin and piano the composer comes across as simple and religious in his approach. Although the autograph score bears no precise date, this work shines with such joy and good humor that it is most likely to date from the period in which Martinů, following his dismissal from the Conservatory (“for incorrigible negligence of duties”), could at last take a deep breath and use his new found freedom to throw himself into intensive composition.
Aleš Březina, Martinů: Works for Violin and Piano, © 1999 Supraphon Music a.s