Search - Martinu, Vasary, Bournemouth Sinfonietta :: Martinu: Sinfonietta Giocosa / Toccata e Due Canzoni / Sinfonietta La Jolla - Julian Jacobson / Bournemouth Sinfonietta / Tamas Vasary

Martinu's Toccata e Due Canzoni is an amazing work--disturbingly dark in some places, opulently melodic and open-hearted in others. The first movement is one of the most purely fascinating "perpetual motion" pieces that you're ever likely to hear. The other two works are typical of Martinu's sunny, lyrical, neoclassical temperament. This is all the more remarkable when you consider that the Sinfonietta Giocoso (Jolly Little Symphony) was composed largely on trains while he and his wife were fleeing the Nazi occupation of France. It really is jolly, though, as is the delightful piece he wrote for the town of La Jolla, California. First rate performances. --David Hurwitz