How few people know the music of Josef Suk? Too few: the student and son-in-law of Dvorák, the contemporary of Janácek, and the Bohemian equal of
Mahler, Suk is one of the most lyrical, the most dramatic, and the most tragic composers of the fin de siècle. When he is known at all, Suk is known for one of three works: his eternally fresh Serenade for Strings, his immensely bleak Asrael Symphony, or his ardent keyboard miniature Love Song. The latter is the last track on this, the first volume of
Niel Immelman's survey of the complete piano works of Suk, and he gives it an impetuously fervent performance to rival the best since the war. Yet while Love Song is the best-known work on this disc, it's not the best work on this disc. Equaling it is
Immelman's recklessly passionate Spring, a suite of intimately expressive pieces as lovely as the season it's named for. Surpassing it is
Immelman's immensely emotional Things Lived and Dreamed, a suite of autobiographical pieces that nearly equal Asrael for depth and profundity. While Meridian's "high resolution natural sound recording" is all those things, but also just a bit too distant,
Immelman's performances deserve to be heard by anyone who knows the piano music of Janácek and
Debussy and by anyone who loves fin de siècle.