Suk: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael" (Live) Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Jakub Hrůša

• Jusef Suk (1874 - 1935): Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael":
• 1 Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael": I. Andante sostenuto (Live) 16:15
• 2 Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael": II. Andante (Live) 08:01
• 3 Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael": III. Vivace - Andante sostenuto - Quasi tempo I (Live) 12:33
• 4 Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael": IV. Adagio (Live) 11:18
• 5 Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael": V. Adagio e maestoso - Allegro appassionato - Adagio e mesto (Live) 14:36
• Total Runtime 01:02:43

Info for Suk: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael" (Live)

”In the Czech generation of composers after Antonín Dvorák, Josef Suk was probably the one who travelled the furthest in terms of style, and certainly, next to Leoš Janácek, the one who retains the highest claim to international standing,” wrote the musicologist Ludwig Finscher in the classic encyclopedia “Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart”. The music of Suk - violinist, composer and one of the most important Bohemian symphonists - is still relatively rarely heard in Western European concert halls, a situation that should definitely change. With this recording of his second symphony, “Asrael”, BR-KLASSIK makes a strong case for Suk’s impressive and compelling music.

In 1891, Josef Suk, having started out as a violinist, became a master student of the world-famous Dvorák. He was regularly invited to the composer’s country house, where he fell in love with his teacher’s daughter and married her. - The “Asrael” symphony was written after Dvorák’s death, and the death soon afterwards of Suk’s own wife gave the work a new direction - it is dedicated to both of them. The title of Asrael refers to the angel of death from Islamic-Persian mythology: he is a mysterious companion of the human soul from this world to the next. - Suk developed his own musical language in which the solo violin is often involved (as here in the gentle central section of the Andante): The violin was indeed his instrument, and until 1933 he played in the “Bohemian String Quartet”. With the “Asrael” symphony he consciously took up the tradition of a “fate symphony” - associated since Beethoven’s Fifth with the key of C minor moving at the end into radiant C major. Ever since its premiere on February 3, 1907 at the Prague National Theatre, “Asrael” has ranked as Suk’s most important symphonic work - and as a visionary glimpse into the future.

Augustin Hadelich, violin
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Jakub Hrůša, direction

Jakub Hrůša
Born in the Czech Republic, Jakub Hrůša is Chief Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.

He is a frequent guest with many of the world’s greatest orchestras, and in addition to his titled positions enjoys close relationships with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. The 2018/19 season will see him make debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, Orchestre de Paris and NHK Symphony.

His relationships with leading vocal and instrumental soloists have included collaborations in recent seasons with Behzod Abduraimov, Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Lisa Batiashvili, Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman, Rudolf Buchbinder, Isabelle Faust, Bernarda Fink, Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Sol Gabetta, Christian Gerhaher, Kirill Gerstein, Karen Gomyo, Augustin Hadelich, Hilary Hahn, Alina Ibragimova, Janine Jansen, Karita Mattila, Leonidas Kavakos, Sergey Khachatryan, Lang Lang, Igor Levit, Jan Lisiecki, Albrecht Mayer, Johannes Moser, Viktoria Mullova, Anne Sofie Mutter, Kristine Opolais, Stephanie d’Oustrac. Olga Peretyatko, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Josef Spacek, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Daniil Trifonov, Simon Trpčeski, Mitsuko Uchida, Klaus Florian Vogt, Yuja Wang, Frank Peter Zimmermann and Nikolaj Znaider As a conductor of opera, he has been a regular guest with Glyndebourne Festival, conducting Vanessa, The Cunning Little Vixen, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carmen, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni and La bohème, and serving as Music Director of Glyndebourne On Tour for three years. Elsewhere he has led productions for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Carmen), Vienna State Opera (a new production of The Makropulos Case), Opéra National de Paris (Rusalka and The Merry Widow), and Frankfurt Opera (Il trittico), among others.

As a recording artist, his most recent releases are Smetana’s Má vlast with Bamberg Symphony (Tudor), and Concertos for Orchestra by Bartók and Kodály with RSB Berlin (Pentatone). He has also recorded Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie and Suk’s Asrael Symphony with Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Octavia Records); the Tchaikovsky and Bruch violin concertos with Nicola Benedetti and the Czech Philharmonic (Universal); and nine discs (with Pentatone and Supraphon) of Czech repertoire with PKF-Prague Philharmonia, where he was Music Director from 2009 until 2015.

Jakub Hrůša studied conducting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently President of the International Martinů Circle and The Dvořák Society, and in 2015 he was the inaugural recipient of the Sir Charles Mackerras Prize.

Booklet for Suk: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 27 "Asrael" (Live)