THE SMETANA TRIO WINS THE PRESTIGIOUS BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE AWARD FOR THEIR RECORDINGS OF B. MARTINŮ!

On Wednesday 19 April 2017 in Kings Place in London, the pianist Jitka Čechová received the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Award on behalf of the Smetana Trio for their recording of the complete piano trios of Bohuslav Martinů. The Czech ensemble has been achieving international success with their new album of compositions by Bohuslav Martinů ever since it was released, as testified to by its reviews: Diapason d´Or, BBC Music Magazine Disc of the Month, Sunday Times Album of the Week, TIP Harmonie.

Pianist Jitka Čechová had this to say about receiving the award: “We are very happy, for two reasons. First of all because this will open up many more doors on world stages to the specific music of Bohuslav Martinů. His chamber trios certainly deserve the attention of ensembles the world over, and thanks to the BBC they may become an integral part of their repertoires in the near future. From our point of view we are of course very pleased at this recognition of our attempts to re-interpret Martinů’s chamber music in a form that is as accessible as possible. It is a very wide-ranging collection of work: each trio evokes a completely different atmosphere, thus enabling the interpreter to demonstrate the immense breadth of colour registers in Martinů’s compositional styles. We were attracted by the idea (and enjoyed doing it) of uncovering the emotional depth of the compositions, wrapped in sometimes very complicated rhythmic and polyphonic structures, but still retaining the composer’s Czecho-Moravian poetic soul.

We see it as recognition of the significance of what we are doing in trying to interpret the legacy of the Czech masters correctly. In becoming aware of the essence of the power of composers born in the heart of Europe.”

The Smetana Trio are currently planning several concert tours, including one to England, where they will play at the Wigmore Hall, and others to Germany, Spain, and Italy. The ensemble is also returning once again to the USA – this time they will appear in San Diego, Los Angles, New York, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, and elsewhere.