Suk: Asrael Symphony, Pohádka

Fate dealt Josef Suk a devastating blow with the deaths, in quick succession, of his teacher and father-in-law Antonin Dvořák in 1904, then Suk’s wife Otylka in 1905. These events understandably had a huge effect on his compositional style for the remainder of his life. The large-scale, consolatory Asrael Symphony was written soon after, and contains all the dramatic skill and orchestral genius that you might expect from Mahler and Strauss. Jiří Bĕlohlávek’s third and final recording of it from 2014 is a gripping and moving document, the Czech Phil at the height of its virtuosic powers. The heartwarming Pohádka (‘Fairy Tale’), premiered by this very orchestra in 1901, started life as incidental music to a mythological drama by Julius Zeyer before being arranged into a suite by Suk himself. Concertmaster Jiří Vodička's solos bring golden touches to this cinematic score.