Josef SUK(1874-1935)
Asrael Symphony op.27(1906)
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy
rec. live, Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, April 2008. SACD
ONDINE ODE 1132-5 [61:32]
Josef Suk’s Asrael is one of those grand symphonic beauties that
don’t seem to get their due in the concert hall. It suffers from neglect
for no other reason than having been composed by a composer who isn’t
famous enough to have become a concert program staple. Josef Suk is not alone
in this neglect - every fine work that hasn’t snuck into the canon of ‘greatest
hits’ suffers from it to some extent. That’s why recordings are
so important and wonderful to have; they allow us cyclically to ‘rediscover’ precisely
these works. They pop up, pique our interest, and remind us of the hidden gems
that can’t all be in the classical Top 40. It would be silly to feign
the naïve hope they ever will … so I content myself with the re-
and re-re-discoveries that come in spurts.
Suk especially deserves regular such spurts. Perhaps you have come across Suk’s “Summer
Tale” (wonderful recording with Charles Mackerras on Decca) or enjoyed
his Elegy for Violin, Cello and Piano as a filler on a Dvořák disc
like the one by the Florestan Trio (Hyperion). The one-hour Asrael Symphony is
Suk’s largest work, and arguably his greatest, too. Well performed, it
is, in the best sense, a terrific and terrifying work.
When you’ve had your fill of the commonly played late romantic symphonists
- whether wallowing Tchaikovsky, melodic Prokofiev, or atmospheric Sibelius
- you could continue with the Asrael Symphony on the same qualitative
level and hear new, invigorating sounds on a large musical canvas. Suk’s
style has similarities with his now more famous contemporaries Janáček
and Martinů (the latter not exactly a staple in concert, either), except
that he sounds more like a late 19th century composer than an early
20th century composer - which is the way I hear Janáček.
Asrael started out as a great five movement symphony in response to
the death of his mentor and father-in-law, Dvořák. The first movement
is an intensely personal requiem without words, the dark grit and wrenching
of a mourning heart being as palpable as in a Shostakovich string quartet.
After composing the third movement (Vivace), tragedy struck again; now
in the form of his wife’s death. In response he scratched plans for the
fourth and the final movement and composed two stirring Adagios that
he tacked on, instead. The first of the two is calm pain, heaving heavily under
the burden of the death of his wife, Otylka Suk, née Dvořák.
The second feels more like the anger of grief; a bit like the finale of Mahler’s
Sixth on a leash, or the more violent moments in Sibelius.
If you already love the symphony, Ashkenazy and Ondine offer one thing that
even Kirill Petrenko (CPO), Václav Neumann (Supraphon), and Václav
Talich (also Supraphon) do not offer: Top notch modern sound - including 5.0
surround if you are SACD equipped. Perhaps it is Ashkenazy’s involvement,
or something about the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, that made me think
more of Sibelius hearing this version than any of the others, but that is not
to say that there is something fishy or foreign about this rendition. In fact,
this has got to be the most pristinely played, and it packs as much of a punch
as the ones mentioned above … and well possibly more.
Jens F. Laurson
see also review by Rob
Barnett
Asrael reviews on MusicWeb
Jiří Bělohlávek’s recording on Chandos (Rob
Barnett).
A live recording by Peter Schneider on Actes (Rob
Barnett).
Kirill Petrenko’s CPO recording (Rob
Barnett).
A live recording by Jiří Waldhans, on the label “Orchestral
Concert CDs” (Jonathan
Woolf)
Vaclav Talich’s 1952 recording on Supraphon (Rob
Barnett).
Paul Serotsky’s program notes on MusicWeb can be read here