Search - Josef Suk, Václav Neumann, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra :: Josef Suk: "Asrael" Symphony for Big Orchestra, Op. 27 - Vaclav Neumann / Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

A Czech's approach to Suk's angel of death

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 11/19/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Asreal" is the angel of death that took the wife of composer Josef Suk (1874-1935) and drove him to write the concluding sections of this mystical, death-induced five-movement symphony that was originally meant as a paean to Dvorak, who had recently died.



Legendary Czech conductor Vaclav Neumann leads the Czech Philharmonic here in a 1983 recording made in Prague's House of Artists. Unlike the Rudolfinum, the House of Artists provides better recording acoustics and you hear it in this recording, where every section of the wonderful Czech Philharmonic can be heard clearly and with the balance Neumann always insisted upon in recordings.



Before I owned any recordings of this work, I looked around for critical opinion. Most critics, it seemed to me, preferred other performances than this one. As is normally the case, Neumann was graded down against his more emotionally involved Czech compatriots (Talich, Kubelik and Belohlavek.) The Talich recording, which Classical Music Third Ear called the "classic" account, has been out of print in USA for some time but recently became available in the UK. It is only a matter of time before it is available here.



This recording owes no apology to Talich or any other conductor, although it can be argued Talich's relationship with the composer gave him a certain credibility. Neumann's direct style works in this music and, as Third Ear admitted, the playing and recording is marvelous, certainly better and more detailed than the 1954 Talich. Both conductors used the Czech Philharmonic, with its unique central European sound, for their recordings. This one has been reissued in new packaging since this release. Look around elsewhere on Amazon for that version."