Suk, Josef - Asrael Symphony - Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE"I think reviewer David Gutman is right to hear something of Mahler in Suk's rarely recorded Asrael. Certainly Ashkenazy and the Helsinki Phil find a direct and gripping emotional line here, but there's also something distinctly otherwordly underlining the whole (a touch of the Prokofievs?). Anyway, this recording is a powerful declamation of Suk's own voice. But Mahlerians will love it!"
(Gramophone)
"I was saved by music," wrote Czech composer Josef Suk about his 'Asrael' Symphony, a work born out of tragedy and the loss of his teacher Antonín Dvorák in 1904. While composing the first part to a funeral symphony titled after the biblical angel of death who leads souls of deceased to the land of eternal blissfulness, Suk also lost his wife (Dvorák's favorite daughter Otilie). Suk's greatest work remains a masterpiece of the late-Romantic repertoire which can easily be compared in scope and emotional range to Bruckner and Mahler.
An expert in Czech music, Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in a masterful and intense performance of this deeply moving work, which has never before been released in super audio quality.