MARTINU: SONATA NO. 1; “LES RITOURNELLES”; “FANTAISIE...

MARTINU: SONATA NO. 1; “LES RITOURNELLES”; “FANTAISIE ET TOCCATA”; “ETUDES AND POLKAS”; “JULIETTA” (EXCERPT). Rudolf Firkusny, piano. RCA Victor Red Seal 7987-2-RC. Firkusny’s relationship with his countryman, Bohuslav Martinu, goes back to 1933. Now at 78, the pianist has delivered an authoritative program of the composer’s underappreciated output for the keyboard. The repertory spans the years 1932-54, the period in which the exiled composer returned in spirit to his native Czechoslovakia for harmonic and rhythmic inspiration. While the music world dissolved in fashionable serialism, Martinu went his own conservative way, fashioning such cogent, attractive essays as the 1954 Piano Sonata, the dour 1940 “Fantaisies et Toccata” (written for Firkusny), the baroque-flavored 1932 “Ritournelles” and the charming “Etudes and Polkas” (1945). Firkusny dispatches it all with a wondrous combination of steel and silk.