This is Jirí Belohlávek's third recording of Martinu's life-enhancing Fourth Symphony (1945) and his second with the Czech Philharmonic.
Both those predecessors possess considerable merits but must now yield to this newcomer.
Not only is the orchestral playing in the luxury class, but Belohlávek's reading is as shapely as it's involving. He masterminds a selfless and unforced ccount of the Third (1944), an altogether more troubled work than its successor, and whose homesick undertow is potently realised here (the heartrending closing pages are precisely that). Belohlávek's, too, is a meticulously prepared performance of compassion and insight that does justice to a riveting work.
Throughout, the inimitable, silvery sonority of this great orchestra has been admirably captured by the Supraphon engineers.