The Six Pastorals for violoncello and piano were composed in Paris in 1931. The individual pieces demonstrate Bohuslav Martinů’s compositional skills – the meditative quality of the first Pastoral, the sparkle of the second, the chordal force and uncompromising nature of the third Pastoral, the sarcasm of the fourth, followed by the musically deepest fifth Pastoral. The entire cycle of compositions is crowned by the unconventional and slightly humorous Pastoral No. 6. The autograph score is now in private ownership.
Petr Nouzovský, Bohuslav Martinů: Works for Cello and Piano, Prague: Arco Diva, 2020.