Martinu: The Symphonies
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Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Cat No: 4867810
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 3
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 15th May 2026
Contents
Works
Symphony no.1, H289Symphony no.2, H295
Symphony no.3, H299
Symphony no.4, H305
Symphony no.5, H310
Symphony no.6, H343 'Fantaisies symphoniques'
Artists
Bamberger Symphoniker (orchestra)Conductor
Jakub HrusaWorks
Symphony no.1, H289Symphony no.2, H295
Symphony no.3, H299
Symphony no.4, H305
Symphony no.5, H310
Symphony no.6, H343 'Fantaisies symphoniques'
Artists
Bamberger Symphoniker (orchestra)Conductor
Jakub HrusaAbout
Jakub Hrůša – 2026 International Classical Music Awards “Artist of the Year” and Musical America’s “Conductor of the Year” – explores one of the 20th century’s finest symphonic cycles. Composed during the Czech composer’s American exile, these mature works encompass poetic lyricism, epic tragedy, and Bohemian colour and energy.
The Bamberg Symphony traces its artistic lineage to Prague, with roots reaching back to the Estates Theatre and the city’s rich musical culture. Based in Bamberg since 1946, the orchestra has brought its rich and warm sound to music lovers worldwide. In a close artistic partnership, Hrůša and the orchestra bring this shared heritage to life with clarity, depth, and expressive power.
The Bamberg Symphony traces its artistic lineage to Prague, with roots reaching back to the Estates Theatre and the city’s rich musical culture. Based in Bamberg since 1946, the orchestra has brought its rich and warm sound to music lovers worldwide. In a close artistic partnership, Hrůša and the orchestra bring this shared heritage to life with clarity, depth, and expressive power.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Symphony No. 1, H. 289_I. Moderato - Poco più mosso
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2Symphony No. 1, H. 289_II. Scherzo. Allegro - Poco moderato
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3Symphony No. 1, H. 289_III. Largo
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4Symphony No. 1, H. 289_IV. Allegro non troppo
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5Symphony No. 2, H. 295_I. Allegro moderato
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6Symphony No. 2, H. 295_II. Andante moderato
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7Symphony No. 2, H. 295_III. Poco allegro
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8Symphony No. 2, H. 295_IV. Allegro
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9Symphony No. 3, H. 299_I. Allegro poco moderato
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10Symphony No. 3, H. 299_II. Largo
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11Symphony No. 3, H. 299_III. Allegro - Andante
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12Symphony No. 4, H. 305_I. Poco moderato
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13Symphony No. 4, H. 305_II. Allegro vivo - Trio. Moderato
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14Symphony No. 4, H. 305_III. Largo
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15Symphony No. 4, H. 305_IV. Poco allegro
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16Symphony No. 5, H. 310_I. Adagio - Allegro
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17Symphony No. 5, H. 310_II. Larghetto
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18Symphony No. 5, H. 310_III. Lento - Allegro
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19Symphony No. 6, H. 343 Fantaisies symphoniques_I. Lento - Andante moderato - Allegro - Lento
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20Symphony No. 6, H. 343 Fantaisies symphoniques_II. Poco allegro
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21Symphony No. 6, H. 343 Fantaisies symphoniques_III. Lento - Poco vivo - Adagio - Andante - Allegro - Moderato - Allegro vivace- Lento
Europadisc Review
The six symphonies by Bohuslav Martinů date from his years of American exile, with the first five being written at the impressive rate of one a year between 1942 and 1946. They have been fortunate on disc, including both recordings by Czech conductors and orchestras and ones from further afield. Until now, however, there has not been a single cycle that can be regarded as absolutely definitive; the closest, for many, was the award-winning set issued on the Onyx label by Jiří Bělohlávek and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, although even that couldn’t entirely eclipse accounts of individual symphonies by Bělohlávek’s great Czech predecessor, Karel Ančerl. Now, however, Bělohlávek’s protégé Jakub Hrůša – every bit as steeped in Martinů’s music as his mentor – has set down all six works over a two-year period between December 2023 and October 2025 with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been chief conductor for a decade.
This is a true meeting of minds, and one wonders whether any of the individual players remain from the Bamberg cycle conducted by Neeme Järvi almost forty years ago on BIS (and briefly also reissued by Brilliant Classics). In any event, right from the swirling ascents at the outset of the First Symphony, Hrůša’s performances are immersive experiences in a manner few others have come close to. The sensitivity to colour and shading is phenomenal, but just as crucially there’s a real sense of rhythmic engagement, poise and propulsion which elevates these works way beyond the ‘neoclassical’ category to which they are too often glibly consigned. Even in the more slow-burning passages, there’s an ideal marriage between lyrical unfolding and energising detail. The Scherzo of the First Symphony has bite but also elegance, while the following Largo begins with an ominous hush in the lower strings. Just as beguiling is the performance of the Second Symphony, with a tangible sense of wistfulness in the Andante second movement.
Hrůša and his musicians nail the tension, darkness and sense of single-minded purpose in the three-movement Third Symphony, where concentration and long-term vision go hand-in-hand. The central Largo has seldom sounded so elemental, its stark upper string lines endowed with a real sense of urgency, and balanced by the wonderfully blended wind playing. The work culminates in a beautifully burnished finale to which the Bamberg orchestra’s rich yet subtle timbres are ideally suited. By contrast, the Fourth Symphony brings more light to the proceedings, although the optimism of a work composed during the final months of World War II is far from unalloyed. The mosaic-like succession of ideas and instrumental colours is deftly handled, and the Allegro vivo second movement combines grittiness with agility and a marvellously tender Trio more than a little redolent of contemporaneous American models. Hrůša expertly sustains the long arc of the Largo slow movement while endowing local details with vibrant life, and that sense of inexorable flow carries over into the finale, where the eventual triumph is all the more satisfying for being so doggedly fought for.
The Fifth Symphony was the first to be composed free from the shadow of war, yet Martinů’s longed-for return to his homeland was not to materialise, and the events of 1948 eventually put paid to the idea for good. The underlying tensions and a certain surface optimism are perhaps together what is responsible for the three-movement Fifth being one of the most satisfying of all these works, and one again Hrůša and the Bambergers deliver a performance that is alive to every timbral detail and rhythmic inflection while maintaining a palpably symphonic trajectory. There’s also a sense of the music reaching across the ocean to central Europe, and the symphony was indeed premiered in Prague by the Czech Philharmonic and Rafael Kubelík at the second Prague Spring Festival in 1947. This is a performance comparable to the greatest of the past, and in excellent modern sound to boot.
Quite unlike any of the previous symphonies, the Sixth Symphony was begun in New York but completed in 1953 in Paris. Originally entitled ‘Fantaisies symphoniques’, it is the most mosaic-like and episodic in structure, often improvisatory and even hallucinatory in mood, and it requires particularly sensitive handling for its beauties to shine. This account is the most convincing I’ve ever heard, alert to the shifts of timbre and tempo yet somehow endowing the work with a sense of wholeness that can too often prove elusive. Above all (and this could be said of all these performances), Hrůša is able unerringly to locate the music’s soul where so many other recordings barely delve beneath the surface.
Treated to demonstration-quality engineering and attractive presentation, this is another of those Deutsche Grammophon symphony cycles – like Fabio Luisi’s Nielsen and Paavo Järvi’s Franz Schmidt – that sets a new benchmark for this repertoire. Lovers of Martinů and Czech music in general should not hesitate!
Reviews
The first appearance of these distinctive works on the Deutsche Grammophon label is a red-letter day... The Bamberg Symphony was founded in 1946 by musicians driven out of Bohemia and Moravia. The music is thus deeply embedded in their DNA and Jakub Hrůša knows just how to draw it out. ... Hrůša, whose astute theatrically trumps most of his competitors on disc, is a highly persuasive guide and his affectionate interpretations are presented in first-rate sound. Clive PagetThe Guardian 15 May 2026
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