This is one of the best cello concertos of the twentieth century. Less frequently played than the other full-scale cello concerto by Bohuslav Martinu, it readily communicates the composer's strong feelings for his homeland.

Bohuslav Martinu (1890 - 1959) wrote this concerto from December 20, 1944, to February 26, 1945, in New York. His music of this period often has reference to the events going on as he conceived them, particularly as world events affected the Czech homeland he had left in 1923 for Paris to find better opportunities for his music, only to find himself shut out by Hitler's occupation of 1938.

He then had to flee Europe altogether in 1940 when the German Army occupied France, and settled in America, where he spent the rest of his life. Unlike his fellow expatriate, the Hungarian Béla Bartók, Martinu found success with American audiences. An American cellist asked for this concerto, and he set to work to fulfill the commission.

When Martinu wrote this concerto the possibility of returning home must have never seemed stronger: Germany was, obviously, unable to hold out long, although it did have strength to scare the Allies with the Battle of the Bulge, which shaped up just as Martinu began the concerto.

It is an expansive work, over 35 minutes in length, in the standard three movements. Unlike most concertos before the twentieth century, it is not the first movement that dominates the structure; the second movement is just a little longer than the 13-minute first movement.

Typically for Martinu, the first movement is in Moderato tempo. The opening gesture is highly characteristic: A pulsing rhythm establishes itself in the orchestra and a striving, rising theme with a contradictory rhythm contends with it. Experts in Czech music say that the sweet second subject deliberately alludes to the traditional Czech Christmastide music of such composers as Jakub Jan Ryba. Perhaps at this Christmas season Martinu was promising himself that his next such holiday would be a Czech Yule.

The second movement, Andante poco moderato, has a general pulse that is not much slower than that of the first. It is episodic, with a faster central section and then a truly magical and heartfelt treatment of the main subject, in which Martinu expresses his longing for home.

The final movement, Allegro, is a driving, energetic conclusion with a solo cadenza that breaks the ongoing rhythm and provides a touching moment of contemplation before the joyous conclusion.

Martinu never got that Czech Christmas: He waited a bit for conditions to improve, but by then the Communist Party, backed by Red Army troops, had begun their 40-year rule. Martinu's exile was permanent.

But the music did return to his homeland. The cellist for whom the concerto was intended did not like it, so Martinu simply put it away. It received its premiere after the composer's death, by Sasa Vetomov with Zdenek Kosler and the Prague Symphony in Ceske Budejovice, Czechoslovakia, on May 25, 1965.

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