Martinů: The Symphonies 1-6 album review – Hrůša is a fascinating guide to this diverse and beautiful experience | Classical music

WExiled between 1942 and 1953, all but one of Bohuslav Martinů’s six compositions were commissioned or premiered by musicians in the United States, yet each one reflects the influence of the singer’s Czech homeland. Often overlooked, their first appearance on Deutsche Grammophon is a red-letter day for these unique, much-loved works.

The Bamberg Symphony was founded in 1946 by musicians who had been exiled from Bohemia and Moravia. The music is deeply embedded in their DNA and Jakub Hrůša they just know how to draw them. Martinů’s vivid world includes orchestral piano and powerful sounds, while his neo-classical pastoral is constantly interrupted by musical power. Such tempos are fast but not fast, while the crisp, crisp textures are clean and well-defined.

The sunny harmony of the First Symphony emerges from the sounds of the sound, in contrast to the funeral dirge – soaring strings on the underground piano – and the jaunty finale that ends with an adrenaline rush. Music videos, the most exciting of the Second Symphony Dvořák, whose Requiem is quoted at the end of the Third Symphony was difficult and chaotic.

The stagnant water of the ebulllent Fourth joins the lucid, more measured Fifth. The first in Prague, the latter reflects the composer’s interest in nostalgia. The mercurial mysteries of the Sixth, subtitled Fantaisies symphoniques, complete one of the first works of the 20th century.

Hrůša, whose theatrical genius outshines many of his competitors on the disc, is a very attractive guide and his romantic interpretations are clearly presented.

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