Incantation. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4, H 358 is one of Martinů’s most progressive and often-performed works. Martinů decided to finally fulfil a promise to his close friend Rudolf Firkušný, the world-famous pianist, and to compose another piano concerto for him to perform. He began on 22 December, completing the first movement on 15 January and the second midway through February 1956. The premiere of Incantation took place on 4 October later that year, in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum, with The Symphony of the Air under the baton of its chief conductor Leopold Stokowski and with Firkušný at the piano. Towards the end of his life he attempted to have the composition published by the German Publisher Bärenreiter-Verlag, but the negotiations failed due to the existing exclusive license of Firkušný. Incantation was finally published in 1970.
Ivana Kalina Tabak, „Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5,“ Martinů Revue, vol. XXI, no. 2, 2021, p. 2–3 [completed by Zuzana Votavová, 2026].
Ivana Kalina Tabak, The Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5, series III/1/5, Prague: Bärenreiter, 2019.