Suk Asrael Symphony x2 from Hrůša

[Alan Howe]

Conductor Jakub Hrůša has now recorded the Asrael Symphony for a second(!) time:


https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00RUF8Z82/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=AN1VRQENFRJN5&psc=1


https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8736755--suk-symphony-no-2-asrael

[Alan Howe]

There was a time when the only recording (spottily available) was Talich on Supraphon. I first heard the work at King's College, Cambridge in the mid-seventies and wondered whether I would ever get to hear a recording...

[Alan Howe]

Here's a review of Hrůša's BR Klassik recording:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Mar/Suk_Asrael_900188.htm

[dhibbard]

Has it come to the point now that we have several performances of the same work??   Surely, there must be composers out there whose works have Never been recorded?

  I have 2 sets of Suk's Asrael Symphony, and yes it is a wonderful work.... but come on..... perhaps it may take the few of us working with Sibelius+Note Performer to make these scores come to life where some orchestra somewhere decides to record it after getting several thousand views on YouTube.   At least the technology is there to make those old dusty scores sitting in a library shelf come to life.     A score of approx 200 pages takes about 1500 -2000 hours to typeset.

[Alan Howe]

I agree - to a certain extent. In my lifetime Suk's great symphony has been on a journey from more or less total obscurity to partial public recognition - an example, in other words, of how all may not be lost in the long run for unsung music. The problem, of course, is that it is very much the exception - and has had the inestimable advantage of advocacy from some great conductors, starting with Václav Talich in 1952...

Personally, I think persuading conductors to take up unsung music is the way to go...

[Joachim Raff]

I would say Suk is unsung but his  'Asrael' has a number of exceptional recordings. Its a marvellous piece. I have the  Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek recording on Decca.

[der79sebas]

Personally, I think persuading conductors to take up unsung music is the way to go...

After years of futile trying to convice conductors I found out that it is definitely not, as conductors have surprisingly little influence on concert programms. Persuading the chiefs/managers of the orchestras is the way to go. And still, this will not work out as long as there is no printed score of a piece, since orchestras nowadays are nearly completely unwilling to play with handwritten material. So, the reference to "Sibelius+Note Performer" is quite correct, but be sure to provide a pdf instead of a synthetic "performance".

[Gareth Vaughan]

And still, this will not work out as long as there is no printed score of a piece, since orchestras nowadays are nearly completely unwilling to play with handwritten material

I have come across this reluctance before. It is a great pity - and I can see no excuse for it if the parts are clearly written (there are cases where they are rather poor, I know, but mostly, I think this is not the case).

[Alan Howe]

After years of futile trying to convice conductors I found out that it is definitely not, as conductors have surprisingly little influence on concert programms. Persuading the chiefs/managers of the orchestras is the way to go.

That's a good point. However, there does seem to have been a conductor-led revival of Asrael. And I'm convinced that, for example, Neeme Järvi's advocacy of unsung music has nothing to do with managers and everything to with his powers of persuasion. After all, he's conducted and recorded with a huge number of orchestras all over the world...

[eschiss1]

OTOH, a manager who wants a more mainstream program might advocate a different conductor's being hired.
I seem to recall Henry Fogel writing that he had some influence (in association probably-with- the conductors and others) on the choices of particular works (Schmidt symphonies, etc?) when he had a position with the Chicago Symphony but I may be misremembering.

[Alan Howe]

Hrůša's earlier account on the Exton label is, by the way, a white-hot performance - probably because it was recorded live. The new recording on BR Klassik is 2:40 longer overall.

There's definitely something to be said for these Japanese releases. They're well played by top-class orchestras, about which we know next nothing, and offer superb recorded sound.

[Kevin]

It's somewhat surprising to me Suk's more popular nowadays than Fibich who I regard a better composer. Don't get me wrong The Asrael symphony is glorious and I enjoy and admire A Summers Tale maybe even the Ripening but his out put is tiny and gets very difficult to listen to near the end with Epiloug and even the Ripening. Fibich's 3 symphonies, 6 tone poems, 2 overtures and three great operas: Bride of Messiana, Tempest and Sarka are far greater than what Suk ever dreamed up of. It also shocks me The Czechs are complelty indifferent to Fibich and are what the kids might say today ''meh'' towards him. They don't understand his true worth.

[Alan Howe]

That's where I disagree. Fibich's music is truly lovely, but Suk's is unique. Fibich never wrote anything of the originality and 'profile' of Asrael.

[eschiss1]

Fibich died in 1900. Suk died in 1935, and his later music  - even as early as the 2nd string quartet op.31 (one of my favorites among his works)- suggests, not so much in its harmonies (which are rarely a good temporal place marker) as much more importantly in its surface disjointedness , its odd juxtapositions (but held together in a good performance)- these show the signs of the (1911) times.

[Alan Howe]

You're right, of course, Eric. Composers from two different generations.

his out put is tiny

Really?>>>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Josef_Suk