Blacklisted by the Nazis, Czech-born composer Bohuslav Martinu fled Europe in January 1941, crossing the Atlantic to shelter in the USA. Four years later, the Germans were vanquished 鈥� and the fugitive composer marked their defeat with this symphonic tour de force.

There鈥檚 also music from another European who found wartime exile in America: Igor Stravinsky, who wrote this expressive 1948 ballet while living in Los Angeles.
In between, Andrei Ionita is the soloist in Dvor谩k鈥檚 compelling Cello Concerto, a work begun in America and completed on the Czech composer鈥檚 return to Bohemia.