Whilst the expansive four-movement Sonata in C major is an interesting piece of composition, it is nonetheless an imitative work that points quite openly to its model, Franck's Sonata in A major. It is characterized by "Faustian" subject matter and internally by the scarcity and disparateness of its themes. The second movement is an attempt at a "demonic" scherzo indebted to the aesthetic of the late 19th century, its theme being a reminder of the Dies irae sequence so favored by various composers of that time, among them Berlioz, Liszt, and Mahler. His fully chromatic musical material drives Martinů on to ever greater heroic heights, which at the close are eventually "redeemed" by the "purgatorial" Maestoso and by the subsequent Grandioso in C major.
Aleš Březina, Martinů: Works for Violin and Piano, © 1999 Supraphon Music a.s