Martinů dedicated his Third Symphony to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its Music Director Koussevitzky, who in 1944 were celebrating a 20-year collaboration. It was one of five symphonies that Martinů wrote during a productive five-year period in the United States after fleeing the war in Europe. The Third was first performed by its dedicatees in Boston on 12 October 1945.
Unlike his previous symphonies, Martinů here opts for a three-movement design, omitting the traditional scherzo. In each movement, the motivic idea presented at the beginning generates all the subsequent music. The first movement opens with a three-note figure which immediately turns into a recurring ascending pattern. After a mysterious solo on the bassoons and cor anglais, this thematic process gradually accelerates – first with a solemn line on the strings, and later via compression of the three-note figure on the woodwinds. It builds to an assertive brass blast, before the strings start to unwind the tension and bring back the initial idea for one final electrifying statement.
The second movement is built on a sombre, twirling motivic idea. Following an instrumental dialogue, it is taken up by solo flute before giving rise to a succession of oscillating patterns across the orchestra. The accumulated tension is gradually released, before a conversation between the strings builds to a climax that gradually softens, and the cor anglais once more enjoys a moment in the limelight.
The third movement, initially forceful and fast-paced, then slows to become more ruminative, with an expressive viola theme transforming the mood. The spirited motifs from the opening are reconfigured and given new meaning.
Concerts notes originally commissioned for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Marzena Diakun conducts…, conducted by Marzena Diakun. Friday 27 January 2023, BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff.
© Kelvin H. F. Lee