"Asrael" is the Muslim angel of death, and the composer wrote this work to exorcise his grief over the loss of his beloved wife and father-in-law, both of home die within a year of each other. That father-in-law, incidentally, was none other than Dvořák. Suk was one of the most talented of his students, and this massive, hyper-Romantic five-movement symphony moves from anguish and despair to a tranquil acceptance of life"s tragic events. The piece has received a lot of attention recently, and rightly so. It"s a magnificently confident essay that anyone who loves, say, Mahler or Strauss, will find just about irresistible. This performance is not as heavy as some, but it wears very well, and sounds great. --David Hurwitz