Martinu: Symphony No 6

Available for over a year

Jonathan Swain recommends a recording of Bohuslav Martinu's Symphony No. 6 from among available versions. Writer's block wasn't usually a problem for Martinu and once he'd got the bug for them, symphonies were no exception. But his sixth (and last), begun in 1951, took over two years to complete. Like much of his music, what Martinu called his 'Fantaisies symphoniques' is rarely heard in the concert hall. For some it's an elusive and often gloomy work, which never seems to get going. For others it reveals the heartrending hankerings of exile, Martinu's Czech homeland made tragically unattainable, first by war and then the Iron Curtain. And although Martinu confessed to a programme behind the music, he teasingly wouldn't tell anyone what it was.