Latest CD releases reviewed

SUK: ASRAEL SYMPHONY
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy
OndineODE 1123-5 ****

Josef Suk's AsraelSymphony, named after Islam's angel of death, was born out of a double blow. He began it in 1904 as a memorial to his father-in-law and fellow composer, Dvorak. But before Suk finished it his wife, Otylka, died, and her loss coloured the final pair of slow movements – only the central Vivace lightens the tempo of this five-movement work. Vladimir Ashkenazy conducts a brooding, heartfelt, often graphic account of Suk's masterpiece, a creation of power and originality that his earlier music would never have led anyone to expect, and which has evoked comparisons with Mahler and even Shostakovich. It's a work well worth getting to know. www.ondine.net

CHOPIN: PIANO CONCERTOS
Lang Lang (piano), Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
Deutsche Grammophon477 7982 (with bonus DVD) ***

Ten years ago Deutsche Grammophon issued a recording of Chopin’s two piano concertos by Krystian Zimerman that lingered so thoughtfully it had to be spread over two discs. Lang Lang’s new DG version is coltish by comparison. Lang’s are curiously tantalising performances. He turns out many moments of exquisite beauty, but there are others where he simply trudges, and others again where he is merely capricious. In this issue, where the First Concerto was taped in concert, he’s not helped by the conductor. Unlike the meticulous Zimerman (who directed the orchestra from the piano), Zubin Mehta doesn’t see much beyond the routine in Chopin’s often criticised orchestral writing. www.tinyurl.com/5b9s4r

MAHLER: SYMPHONY No 2; ADAGIO FROM SYMPHONY No 10
Elena Mosuc, Zlata Bulycheva, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra/Valery Gergiev

0666

Valery Gergiev has received a mixed press for his Mahler cycle with the London Symphony Orchestra, both in concert and on CD in the orchestra’s LSO Live series. Words such as “thuggish” and “maddening” have been called into play, but they can hardly be applied here to his recordings of the

Resurrection

Symphony or the Adagio from the Tenth. The problems seem to lie in the excitability with which he chooses to follow the mood fluctuations of the music. And when he loses the thread, the music can seem to stall or tumble. The two vocal soloists in the Resurrection are not of the finest, but the orchestral playing is first-rate, and the recording sounds well. www.tinyurl.com/ ctth2r

BACH: DOUBLE VIOLIN CONCERTO; VIOLIN CONCERTOS; CONCERTO FOR OBOE AND VIOLIN
Julia Fischer, Alexander Sitkovetsky (violins), Andrey Rubtsov (oboe), Academy of St Martin's in the Fields
Decca478 0650 ***

German violinist Julia Fischer's Decca debut is an all-Bach affair. The music is dispensed with a light touch, and the general effect is of airiness. Think of the imperturbability of impeccable elocution and you'll be on the right lines. The orchestral playing is lithe and flexible to match, and in the two double concertos both violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and oboist Andrey Rubtsov seem perfectly matched to Fischer's approach. Soulful, deeply penetrating Bach playing is not what's offered here. Fischer
focuses instead on a kind of delectable finish that works best in the fast movements, and seems to see Bach through a Vivaldian lens. www.deccaclassics.com