Josef Suk - Asrael Symphony (Claus Peter Flor)

Information

Composer: Josef Suk

• Symphony No. 2 in C minor, 'Asrael', Op. 27

Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

Claus Peter Flor, conductor

Date: 2009

Label: BIS

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

A real treat – Suk’s Asrael in a thrilling account by the Malaysian Philharmonic

You wait ages for Suk’s Asrael to enter the international repertoire and then three non-Czech recordings arrive all at once. The standard seems uniformly high, though I haven’t yet managed to hear the version by Kirill Petrenko (CPO) commended by several readers. Like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Claus Peter Flor is generally lighter and lither than Rafael Kubelík in his powerful, if currently elusive, Bavarian Radio taping (Panton, 1/94).

Indeed Flor’s reading takes the process further, outpacing Václav Talich in every movement. Part of the special character of the new disc is attributable to state-of-the-art sound which, boasting a dynamic range wider even than that favoured by Ondine, could prove uncomfortable if you do your listening through earphones. Instrumental soloists are precisely located on the sound stage with first and second violins antiphonally placed. The impression of clarity, freshness and volatility also has much to do with the response of the young, multinational Malaysian Philharmonic.

Arguably the first band of truly international calibre to be based in a predominantly Muslim country, the ensemble was founded as recently as 1998. Its quality of articulation and attack is thrilling in the turbulent Scherzo, the ardour of the playing throughout akin to that of a top-class youth orchestra. The advent of a new music director, still associated in the minds of many collectors with his Bamberg Mendelssohn cycle for RCA, looks set to propel the orchestra to another level altogether. Darker sonorities and more in the way of old-world finish may follow, but what a splendid startthe team has made.

-- David Gutman, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

https://www.allmusic.com/album/josef-suk-asrael-symphony-mw0001873683

https://www.amazon.com/Suk-Asrael-Symphony/dp/B002CAOVWE

-----------------------------------------------------------

Josef Suk (4 January 1874 – 29 May 1935) was a Czech composer and violinist. Known as one of Antonín Dvořák's favorite pupils, Suk became very close to his mentor and later married Dvořák's daughter, Otilie. He was also the grandfather of famed Czech violinist Josef Suk (1929-2011). Suk, alongside Vítězslav Novák and Otakar Ostrčil, is considered one of the leading composers in Czech Modernism. Although he wrote mostly instrumental music, he occasionally branched out into other genres, such as chamber music and music for solo piano. As a violinist, Suk was a member of the Bohemian Quartet. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Suk_(composer)

***

Claus Peter Flor (born 16 March 1953, Leipzig) is a German conductor. Flor studied at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar, and the HMT Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig. He was also a conducting student with Rolf Reuter and with Kurt Masur. Throughout his career, Flor has served as chief conductor of the Suhl Philharmonic Orchestra (1981-84) and the Konzerthausorchester Berlin (1984-91), music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (2008-14), and currently is music director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claus_Peter_Flor

-----------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!