Composer: Josef Suk
Performer: Jiri Vodicka
Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic
Conductor: Jiri Belohlavek
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Release: 2019
Size: 1.54 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Suk: Asrael: Symphony in C Minor, Op. 27
01. 1. Andante sostenuto
02. 2. Andante
03. 3. Vivace
04. 4. Adagio
05. 5. Adagio e maestoso
Suk: Pohádka, Op. 16
06. 1. About the Constant Love of Raduz and Mahulena and their Trials
07. 2. Playing at Swans and Peacocks
08. 3. Funeral Music
09. 4. Runa’s Curse and how it was broken by True Love
If anything, Bělohlávek sounds even more fired-up [than on his previous recordings of these works]…His natural warmth and charm characteristically enchants the central scherzo’s prismatic textural shifts, while elsewhere he demonstrates a greater willingness to probe the dark side of this endlessly fascinating score…[Pohádka’s] radiant allure and pictorial splendour is brought stunningly to life by Bělohlávek.
The Intermezzo wears its Mahlerian overtones discreetly, not least that mesmeric passage where the funeral-march theme dissolves into overlapping pizzicatos. The Czech Philharmonic give their collective all; with the best sound Decca has yet achieved at the Rudolfinum, this can be placed next to Charles Mackerras as the finest modern Asrael.