Vitezslava KAPRALOVA (1915-1940): Portrait of Composer
[1] Military Sinfonietta op.11 (1937) 14:34
String Quartet op.8 (1935-36) 19:25
[2] Con brio 7:08
[3] Lento 6:58
[4] Allegro con variazioni 5:09
April Preludes op.13 (1937) for piano 9:30
[5] Allegro ma non troppo 1:49
[6] Andante 3:21
[7] Andante semplice 2:17
[8] Vivo 1:48
[9] Love Carol (Bohuslav MARTINU) (1937) for voice and piano 0:48
[10] Love Carol (1938) for voice and piano 1:20
[11] Ritornell op.25 (1940) for cello and piano 4:13
Partita op.20 (1938/9) for a string orchestra and piano 19:26
[12] Allegro energico 5:07
[13] Andantino 6:48
[14] Presto 7:21
[15] Waving Farewell op.14 (1937) for voice and orchestra 5:16
Total time 75:14
CZECH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF BRNO
conductor Frantisek Jilek (1,12-15)
JANACKOVO KVARTETO,
Bohumil Smejkal, Adolf Sykora, Jiri Kratochvil, Karel Krafka (2-4)
Lenka Skornickova - soprano (9,10)
Vilem Pribyl - tenor (15)
Ivan Merka - cello (11)
Jitka Drobilkova - piano (9,10)
Jiri Skovajsa - piano (12-14)
Jaroslav Smykal - piano (5-8,11)
The first 25 years in most artists' lives are generally a period of development towards maturity, a time of youthful exploration usually represented in a biography by a brief chapter, or perhaps even a single paragraph. Some artists, however, in early life give the world works that are remarkably mature and perfect in both form and technique. This seems to be particularly true of those who, as if aware of a life to be cut short, work from the beginning with extreme intensity. Mozart composed his first operas aged twelve, Schubert was twenty five when he worked on the Unfinished.
In Czech music Vitezslava Kapralova represents such artists. She was born in 24.1.1915 in Brno, died 16.6.1940 in Montpellier, and her rich life and creativity could fill several lifespans.
... Kapralova met Bohuslav Martinu in April 1937. In October of the same year she became his pupil but the relationship became more close. In November they began composing trio for wind instruments in a spirit of artistic rivalry. The change in their relationship is best seen in Love Carol. Martinu set to music a piece of folk poetry which became a starting point for Kapralova's work of the same name. (She delighted in writing to her parents that Martinu preferred her composition to his own). The work must have been of particular significance to them because Martinu used the title and a rhymed paraphrase of the Love Carol in a letter to Kapralova asking her to return to Paris.
The next piece of work on which they worked together was Martinu's Tre Ricercari. In a letter Martinu refers to it as "our dear ricercares". This work also motivated Kapralova to try the pre-classical form in Partita for String Orchestra and Piano, op. 20. The preliminary sketches were made in Autumn 1938 in Brno, and the work was finished in Spring 1939 in Paris. Martinu made a substantial contribution to the final version, rejecting some of her ideas and advising on themes and orchestration.
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