Bohuslav Martinů's Symphony No. 2, H. 295, was composed from May 29 to July 24, 1943 under a commission from the Czech community in Cleveland. It was premiered by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf on October 28 that year, which marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia, then downgraded to a Czech protectorate and Slovak puppet state under German occupation.
The work, which has been linked with
Antonín Dvořák's 1889 Symphony No. 8 due to its innocently pastoral character, is the shortest of Martinů's six symphonies, lasting ca. 24 minutes, and the only one that ends in its original tonality, D. It consists of a flowing Allegro, a serene Andante, a martial scherzo and a bright finale.
Although the quiet theme opening the Allegro moderato seems to promise a sonata form, Martinů dispenses with both a second theme and the expected development section. The Andante is the most successful and least ambitious slow movement in all of Martinů's symphonies. It is even more nostalgic in character than is ever found in Dvořák, expressed by phrases of a folk-like simplicity exchanged between woodwinds and strings.
