Music and Vinyl: Martinů

Václav Neumann's Martinů symphony cycle from the late 1970s continues - and here is Symphony No.1.

This work came about after Martinů wrote to Serge Koussevitzky in December 1941 saying he wished to compose a piece for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the hope it would raise his profile in the US. Martinů, living in Paris in 1940, had been blacklisted by the Nazis for composing a tribute to the Czech resistance movement and sentenced in his absence, and as German forces advanced towards Paris Martinů fled, and left France via Marseilles in January 1941.

The symphony was premiered in Boston in November 1942. Aside from the album notes below, a description of music can be found here.