These three concertos date from Martinu˚’s years of exile in the USA and are wonderfully vivacious examples of his mature style. His 18 years in Paris had exposed him to the multitude of 20th-century musical styles which he assimilated into his Czech folk DNA with Stravinskian neo-classicism becoming the dominant strain. He declared his open support of Czech resistance with the marvellous Field Mass of 1939 which made him a moving target in Joseph Goebbels’ gun-sight so when the Wehrmacht rolled into Paris in 1940 he fled through southern France, Spain and Portugal eventually arriving in America in March 1941.

Two years later he wrote the Double Piano Concerto – a bold expression of courage...