Martinů: The Symphonies Bamberger Symphoniker & Jakub Hrůša

• Bohuslav Martinů (1890 - 1959): Symphony No. 1, H. 289:
• 1 Martinů: Symphony No. 1, H. 289: I. Moderato – Poco più mosso 10:05
• 2 Martinů: Symphony No. 1, H. 289: II. Scherzo. Allegro – Poco moderato 07:09
• 3 Martinů: Symphony No. 1, H. 289: III. Largo 09:09
• 4 Martinů: Symphony No. 1, H. 289: IV. Allegro non troppo 09:17
• Symphony No. 2, H. 295:
• 5 Martinů: Symphony No. 2, H. 295: I. Allegro moderato 06:46
• 6 Martinů: Symphony No. 2, H. 295: II. Andante moderato 06:35
• 7 Martinů: Symphony No. 2, H. 295: III. Poco allegro 04:30
• 8 Martinů: Symphony No. 2, H. 295: IV. Allegro 05:10
• Symphony No. 3, H. 299:
• 9 Martinů: Symphony No. 3, H. 299: I. Allegro poco moderato 09:56
• 10 Martinů: Symphony No. 3, H. 299: II. Largo 08:31
• 11 Martinů: Symphony No. 3, H. 299: III. Allegro – Andante 10:43
• Symphony No. 4, H. 305:
• 12 Martinů: Symphony No. 4, H. 305: I. Poco moderato 06:46
• 13 Martinů: Symphony No. 4, H. 305: II. Allegro vivo – Trio. Moderato 09:04
• 14 Martinů: Symphony No. 4, H. 305: III. Largo 08:49
• 15 Martinů: Symphony No. 4, H. 305: IV. Poco allegro 07:20
• Symphony No. 5, H. 310:
• 16 Martinů: Symphony No. 5, H. 310: I. Adagio – Allegro 08:08
• 17 Martinů: Symphony No. 5, H. 310: II. Larghetto 09:00
• 18 Martinů: Symphony No. 5, H. 310: III. Lento – Allegro 10:55
• Symphony No. 6, H. 343 "Fantaisies symphoniques":
• 19 Martinů: Symphony No. 6, H. 343 "Fantaisies symphoniques": I. Lento – Andante moderato – Allegro – Lento 09:17
• 20 Martinů: Symphony No. 6, H. 343 "Fantaisies symphoniques": II. Poco allegro 07:50
• 21 Martinů: Symphony No. 6, H. 343 "Fantaisies symphoniques": III. Lento – Poco vivo – Adagio – Andante – Allegro 11:03
• Total Runtime 02:56:03

Info for Martinů: The Symphonies

Conductor Jakub Hrůša and the Bamberger Symphoniker explore the six symphonies of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů – one of the 20th century’s finest symphonic cycles. Composed during the composer’s American exile, these mature works encompass poetic lyricism, epic tragedy, and Bohemian colour and energy.

The Bamberg Symphoniker traces its artistic lineage to Prague, with roots reaching back to the Estates Theatre and the city’s rich musical culture. Based in Bamberg since 1946, the orchestra has brought its rich and warm sound to music lovers worldwide. In a close artistic partnership, Hrůša and the orchestra bring this shared heritage to life with clarity, depth, and expressive power.

Bamberger Symphoniker
Jakub Hrůša, conductor

The Bamberg Symphony
is an extraordinary orchestra in an extraordinary city. Bamberg without the Symphony would be a city missing something essential, something basic, like the air we breathe. Almost 10% of Bamberg's citizens subscribe to one of the five concert series. There are also quite a few special concerts, almost all of which sold out, so that everybody in the city attends a concert with the orchestra on average once a year.

And yet the Bamberg Symphony is far more than the musical centre of the city and the entire region. They are one of Germany's most travelled orchestras: since 1946 they have been delighting audiences all over the world with their characteristically dark, round and radiant sound. With far more than 7,300 concerts in over 500 cities and 63 countries, they have also become a cultural ambassador for Bavaria and the whole of Germany as the Bavarian State Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly tour, for example, the USA, South America, Japan and China.

The circumstances of its founding make the Bamberg Symphony a mirror of German history:

in 1946, former members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra Prague met colleagues in Bamberg who had also had to flee their homeland as a result of the war and post-war turmoil, and founded the "Bamberg Tonkünstlerorchester", shortly afterwards renamed the Bamberg Symphony. Starting with the Prague orchestra, its lines of tradition can be traced back to the 19th and 18th centuries. Thus the roots of the Bamberg Symphony reach back to Mahler and Mozart.

With the Czech Jakub Hrůša, the fifth chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony since September 2016, a bridge has been built again between the historical roots of the Bamberg Symphony and its present day, more than seven decades after the orchestra was founded.

Jakub Hruša
Born in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He was also formerly Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra.

He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, enjoying close relationships and performing regularly with the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, NHK Symphony and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra – and in the US with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.

As a conductor of opera, he has led productions for the Vienna State Opera (The Makropulos Case), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Carmen), Opéra National de Paris (Rusalka), and Zurich Opera (The Makropulos Case). The 21/22 season sees him return to the Royal Opera House for Wagner’s Lohengrin. He has also been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival, conducting Vanessa, The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni and La bohème, and served as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years.

His relationships with leading vocal and instrumental soloists have included collaborations in recent seasons with Behzod Abduraimov, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Ray Chen, Isabelle Faust, Bernarda Fink, Martin Fröst, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Sol Gabetta, Véronique Gens, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Vadim Gluzman, Karen Gomyo, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Barbara Hannigan, Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Karita Mattila, Leonidas Kavakos, Sergey Khachatryan, Denis Kozhukhin, Lang Lang, Igor Levit, Jan Lisiecki, Albrecht Mayer, Johannes Moser, Viktoria Mullova, Anne Sofie Mutter, Kristine Opolais, Stephanie d’Oustrac, Emmanuel Pahud, Olga Peretyatko, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Josef Špaček, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Simon Trpčeski, Mitsuko Uchida, Klaus Florian Vogt, Yuja Wang, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Alisa Weilerstein and Nikolaj Znaider.

As a recording artist, Jakub Hrusa has received numerous awards and nominations for his discography. Most recently with Bamberg Symphony, his recordings of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 were awarded the ICMA prize for Symphonic Music and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, respectively. In 2021, his disc of Martinů and Bartók violin concertos with Bamberg Symphony and Frank Peter Zimmermann (BIS) was nominated for both BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, and his recording of the Dvořák Violin Concerto with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Augustin Hadelich was nominated for a Grammy ® Award. His recordings of Dvořák and Martinů Piano Concertos with Ivo Kahánek and the Bamberg Symphony (Supraphon), and Vanessa from Glyndebourne (Opus Arte) both won BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2020. Other recent releases include Dvořák and Brahms Symphonies with Bamberg Symphony (Tudor), Suk’s Asrael Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony (BR Klassik), and Dvořák’s Requiem and Te Deum with the Czech Philharmonic (Decca).

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society. He was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize, and in 2020 was awarded both the Antonín Dvořák Prize by the Czech Republic’s Academy of Classical Music, and – together with Bamberg Symphony – the Bavarian State Prize for Music.

Booklet for Martinů: The Symphonies