Jakub Hrůša’s Martinů Cycle Becomes the Modern Standard

Jakub Hrũša’s recording of the complete Bohuslav Martinũ symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony marks the first time this cycle has appeared on the Deutsche Grammophon label. The set functions as a restoration of works written in American exile between 1942 and 1953, music previously relegated to specialist labels. Hrũša navigates the rhythmic ostinato (a continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostinato) and the dense, piano-flecked textures with a forensic clarity that eluded muddled analog-era recordings. The Bamberg Symphony, founded by musicians fleeing the same Moravian and Bohemian territories Martinũ called home, provides a specific tonal weight that serves as a historical anchor for the composer’s idiosyncratic neoclassicism. This release moves Martinũ from the category of interesting exile to a central pillar of the mid-century symphonic tradition.