Alumno de Dvorák, casado con su hija Otilie, convertido pues en yerno del maestro checo, con contactos frecuentes con Brahms, Richard Strauss, Mahler y Debussy, Josef Suk tuvo la oportunidad de conocer de primera mano la mejor música del momento, influencias que le son inesquivables en su música, en especial la de su suegro y maestro, que se evidencia en obras como el bello Scherzo Fantástico op. 25, sin alcanzar la joya suprema homónima de Dvorak, pero con suficientes cualidades para ser obra más tocada, como su Pohádka o Cuento de Hadas, de extraordinario lirismo y sugerencias tímbricas (la sombra de Sheherazade de Rimsky), género el del “cuento” que en Suk tiene a su mayor defensor (Mackerras grabó un maravilloso Cuento de verano, Decca). Este de hadas es toda una belleza de principio a fin (su estructura en cuatro movimientos programáticos es como una sinfonía), que revela de nuevo que Falletta ya no es una promesa de la dirección: su forma de planear sobre la primera parte, dirigiendo de escándalo, le hace un enorme favor a esta música, necesitada de importantes maestros para dar el salto. La participación de Michael Ludwig en la Fantasía op. 24 no es anecdótica, firma una actuación de primera fila.

Normally I would automatically prefer the Czech recordings of all three works by the likes of Belohlavek, Ancerl, Talich, and Pesek. Those are better but not by much; and when one considers the bargain price for Naxos discs, I think this one is good enough to recommend. JoAnn Falletta does a superb job of leadership, and Michael Ludwig is a creditable soloist. The notes are satisfactory.

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Falletta’s full-textured, warm-hearted approach delivers on many levels

Josef Suk’s dramatic, 23-minute Fantasy in G minor opens like Zampa in a bad mood (remember Hérold’s popular overture?), but the “storm and stress” element soon gives way to a wealth of lyricism and writing that combines memorable themes with imaginative orchestration, nicely focused here by JoAnn Falletta and her players (note the prominent Buffalo horns at 1′23″). It’s a cracker of a piece, with a particularly lovely theme at around 5′44″ that cues a skipping, lightly syncopated variation, and a mass of attractive incident around and beyond.

It was Josef Suk’s misfortune to assume the mantle of his teacher and father-in-law Antonín Dvořák just about the time another Czech composer with a unique musical voice was establishing himself. Twenty years Suk’s senior, Leoš Janáček often seems twenty years more advanced in style, and his operas, orchestral music, and instrumental music established him as the true successor to the tradition of Smetana and Dvořák. Now, thanks to recordings, Suk is getting the due he deserves as a late-Romantic composer whose finest works can stand comparison with Mahler’s and Strauss’s.

JoAnn Falletta and Michael Ludwig, conductor and concert-master respectively of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, combined for an outstanding Naxos CD of the Dohnányi Violin Concertos a few years ago, and now they’re back with the music of Czech composer Josef Suk (1874–1935), this time with their own orchestra (Naxos 8.572323). Suk studied with Dvořák, who later became his father-in-law, and continued the Czech school of Dvořák and Smetana while managing to accommodate the influences of his contemporaries Mahler, Richard Strauss and Debussy. Ludwig is outstanding in the Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, and also takes the solo line in the opening movement of the four-movement suite Pohadka (Fairy Tale), compiled from incidental music Suk wrote for a theatrical work in 1898. The orchestral Fantastic Scherzo in G minor rounds out another immensely satisfying CD from this terrific team.

As they celebrate their 75th anniversary season, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra continues to flourish, which is reason enough to celebrate in the current economic climate. Their strong artistic and financial leadership comes from their music director of the past 12 years, JoAnn Falletta, who is also marking her 20th anniversary as music director of the Virginia Symphony this season. Falletta has carried on the legacy of the orchestra’s predecessors by nurturing the ensemble’s warm sound, and its adventurous approach to contemporary music. The orchestra’s 75th anniversary season includes another world premiere this spring, (Daron Hagen’s Songbook Concerto for violin and orchestra), and the release of this new recording featuring orchestral works from the Czech composer Joseph Suk.

Joseph Suk lived from 1874 to 1935. He was second violinist of the Czech Quartet for 41 years, and also professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory. When Suk was a student there, he studied under Antonín Dvořák, eventually becoming part of the family, when he married the Dvořáks’ oldest daughter. Suk’s compositions were influenced by Dvořák and Brahms early on, but in the end, he developed his own symphonic style. The Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in G minor, Op. 24, was written at the turn of the 20th century, a time when orchestral tone poems were gaining in popularity throughout Europe. These tone poems, such as Smetana’s, “My Homeland,” and Elgar’s “Enigma” “Variations,” were intriguing because they followed a progression of moods rather than any particular storyline. The solo violin enters following a bold orchestral opening in Suk’s Fantasy in G minor. A charming pastoral atmosphere develops midway through the Fantasy as violinist Michael Ludwig’s solo line dances in and around the fluttering woodwinds. The soloist paints a dramatic tale over the rich orchestral terrain provided by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Like his mentor Antonín Dvořák, Josef Suk loved fairy tales. His orchestral suite titled, “Pohadka,” or “Fairy Tale,” features incidental music he wrote in 1898 for a theatre piece by Czech poet Julius Zeyer. It’s an old legend from Eastern Europe about a dashing young prince, Raduz, who tries to win the hand of princess Mahulena from a rival mountain kingdom. Mahulena’s mother is an evil sorceress who demands certain rites of passage before the two can be united. She puts a curse on the couple, forcing Raduz to lose his memory when she turns her daughter into a poplar tree. The first movement paints a lush orchestral portrait of the two lovers, with the solo violin singing a tender love song. The second movement is my favorite. “The Game of Swans and Peacocks” is a lively folk dance much like the Slavonic Dances of Dvořák. In the final movement true love breaks the curse of the evil sorceress, and the more....

Because music inspires the mind and heart without actually having any inherent significance—Leonard Bernstein famously commented that music does not mean anything—it is a medium uniquely well adapted to fantasizing. And it has inspired many, many fantasy-oriented works, both better-known and less-known. The ones by Josef Suk on a new Naxos CD do not deserve their comparative obscurity: they are eloquent, tuneful, emotionally evocative and thoroughly enjoyable to hear. The Fantasy in G minor is simply an orchestral tone poem of considerable beauty, not telling any particular story but neatly stirring together the traditional elements of fantasy: romance, boldness, sylvan scenes and ultimate triumph. It is well orchestrated and very well played by the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta, who has been doing an outstanding job of reviving less-known works of the Romantic era. The inclusion of a solo violin will remind listeners of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Michael Ludwig’s playing is both virtuosic and appropriately emotive. Pohádka (Fairy Tale) is a gem, too—and also somewhat reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov. It is an orchestral suite of music that Suk (1874–1935) wrote for a stage play that chronicles the legendary and entirely typical story of a prince seeking the hand of a princess and forced to endure many trials before finally winning her. The suite’s four movements include love music and passages of beauty, bravery and a stylized representation of death—symbolized by swans in the stage play and expressed by Suk in terms somewhat akin to Tchaikovsky’s in Swan Lake. Also on this CD is the very effective Fantastické scherzo, which seems to depict everything from mischievous woodland creatures to an idyllic setting where even the elves and gnomes can relax for a while. This disc is a very fine rediscovery indeed.

The greatest Czech artists have recorded this music, but they yield surprisingly little to JoAnn Falletta and her Buffalo players. If perhaps the winds aren’t quite as characterful as their Bohemian colleagues, Falletta ensures that the performances have just as much energy and rhythmic snap. In Fairy Tale, a gorgeously romantic work as substantial as a symphony, The Game of Swans and Peacocks has all the bounce of a Slavonic Dance, while the large outer movements are beautifully shaped and exquisitely played.