Suk, Martinu, and Fiser in the creative hands of young virtuososThe Supraphon debut of 18-year-old Daniel Matejca (Ysaye - Violin Sonatas,2023) has attracted great attention with critics around the world writingabout his remarkable talent, comparing his recording with the very best.That same year, the 17-year-old pianist Jan Schulmeister came away fromTexas with third prize at the prestigious Cliburn Junior Competition. And alsothat year, the Matejca - Schulmeister duo celebrated victory in the chambermusic category at the competition Concertino Praga; that opened themthe door to the studio for the making of this recording. Instead of brilliant,virtuosic show pieces, the young artists chose challenging Czech repertoireof the 20th century with pivotal works by Suk, Martinu, and Lubos Fiser.Martinu composed his Czech Rhapsody in the USA just after the end ofthe Second World War for Fritz Kreisler, who was 70 years old by then. Eventoday, this beautiful composition is a great technical challenge for the soloist.Martinu's First Violin Sonata (1929) still belongs to the composer's Paris period,as can be seen from jazz elements and the sometimes impressionistic moodof the piano part. The third composer, Lubos Fiser, is known mainly in hishomeland, but his music also earned international awards (UNESCO prize,Prix d'Italia). His violin sonata The Hands was originally supposed to have beentitled Crux, but that was completely unacceptable during the period of harshcommunist rule. In the words of Ivan straus, who premiered the sonata,"the composition could be interpreted as a loose depiction of the Stationsof the Cross at Easter with dramatic moments of whipping, hatred, andanxiety followed by a funeral procession (pizzicato) and then the gloriousResurrection in the concluding apotheosis to the sound of bells."
