João Carlos Martins, the great Brazilian pianist who completed his 15-volume, 19-CD set of recordings of the complete clavier works of J.S. Bach in 1998, has just released an album of music for piano, left hand, including Ravel's masterful concerto for piano, left hand, and the Brahms arrangement of the Bach D minor Chaconne, originally written for unaccompanied violin. The album also includes a Scriabin Nocturne and Six Etudes for left hand by Camille Saint-Saens.
In early 2000, after years of battling injuries sustained during an assault in Europe and followed by surgery at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Martins was partially deprived of the use of his right hand. In September, 2000, with the third finger of his right hand immobilized, Martins recorded an album of Haydn and Mozart sonatas on a CD that is soon to being issued in the United States. Two months after this, his condition worsened, resulting in permanent atrophy of his right hand.
However, for João Carlos Martins this was not the end, but rather the beginning of a heroic quest. In June 2001, he started his major project of recording the entire pianistic oeuvre for the left hand, now initiated worldwide with the launching of this CD. Using his left hand, João Carlos Martins continues the path of a human being whose spiritual strength does not falter and who fights, with astonishing skill, for the same hopes and ideals that have thus far guided his life and his career. A book about this remarkable life and career entitled "Conversations with Martins" by noted author and pianist David Dubal (author of "Conversations with Horowitz") has just been published and the new recording of works by Mozart and Haydn will be released in 2002.