The Duo for Violin and Cello No. 2 was written in 1958, less than two years before the composer's death. Bohuslav Martinů took only four days to complete it, working at the residence of his admirer and friend Paul Sacher, near Basel. This duo, featuring numerous stylistic and harmonic peculiarities characteristic for Martinů's neo-classical period, boasts an extraordinary degree of sonic refinement, at the same time offering to its audience an immensely good deal of pure entertainment. Even so, it echoes the composer's nostalgic longing for his native country, a note indelibly present in most of his late output. In a letter to his birthplace, the town of Polička (of 12 July, 1958), Martinů explained the background of the work's making: "It has been commissioned by a gentleman who wishes to present it to his wife as a gift on her name-day, so she'd have the autograph score." A virtuoso composition in three movements, the Duo is dedicated to Mrs Trauti Mohr-Bally, the wife of well-known Basel musicologist Ernst Mohr. It was premiered in a private circle, in the couple’s home, on 4 March, 1962, by violinist Hansheinz Schneeberger and cellist Dieter Stähelin.
Aleš Březina, Czech String Duo, © 2002 Music Vars