Norrington/Swr So Stuttgart - Bohuslav Martin?: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6

Bohuslav Martin?�s six symphonies were composed between 1942 and 1953 during the composer�s years in America. He completed the first five symphonies at the astonishing rate of one per year, although not at any artistic expense � years later, he described the Fifth Symphony as a �well organised, organic, well ordered work� in an interview with The New York Times. A full seven years elapsed, however, before Martin? completed his Sixth. One of his �unexpected� works, it took, quite unusually for him, two years to complete, and its form proved to be a radical change from his previous symphonies. As he wrote to his friend �afr�nek � �I am about to create fantasias!�