The Concerto for string quartet with orchestra was composed in Paris in 1931 for the Belgian Quatuor Pro Arte to which Béla Bartók had already dedicated his fourth string quartet. The work keeps the string quartet distinct from the...

The concerto is quite traditional, both in terms of its fast-slow-fast structure and in terms of the composer's personal aesthetic; the style is instantly recognizable as Martinu's: broad, wistful melodies soar over percolating rhythms with the...

EDITION ZEZA REPRINT SERIES Bohuslav Martinů's Symphony No. 2, H. 295, was composed from May 29 to July 24, 1943 under a commission from the Czech community in Cleveland. Martinu's Second Symphony is also a work of Haydnesque proportions. It is not a...

One of Martinu's most unyielding and dissonant works. Even in its quieter moments there is a stern, implacable quality. "Its notes sang out the feelings and sufferings of all those of our people who, far away from their home, were gazing into the...