Customer Reviews

Suk: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2; Meditation

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Josef Suk's chamber music with piano has received some international attention, but his string quartets are far less known. And frankly, these works aren't quite as immediately attractive as the piano chamber music, although they still contain some gorgeous musical material. The first quartet, in B flat, dates from 1896 and is a generally serene work. The four movements are well contrasted and the best music is to be found in the delectable slow movement and the quirky and inventive Intermezzo movement preceding it. It is also well laid out for the instruments and, while no masterpiece, it is overall a rewarding work. It is followed by a quartet movement from 1915 that Suk intended to substitute for the original finale (which he found weak - not unreasonably, I'd say); the trouble was that the new movement was so out of style with the rest of the quartet that the substitution has generally been rejected - it is in itself a fine piece of late Suk, but not sufficiently superior to the original to warrant the replacement.

The second string quartet op. 31 dates from 1911; it is cast in one movement starting out meditatively and then going through a series of contrastive moods in a free sonata form. Suk apparently spent a lot of creative energy on it. The end result is interesting enough, but not quite on the level of his best works, I think. The themes and gestures are simply not quite strong enough, even though the work is certainly worth hearing.

The disc is filled out with a small and innocent Tempo di Minuetto, originally a piano piece, and the string quartet version of the rather stirring Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale "Saint Wenceslas". Throughout the Suk quartetes are superb advocates of this music; their tone is warm and opulent (but fierce and sharp when needed) and they certainly espouse a deep understanding of this music. Sound quality is good as well, and overall this is a very recommendable release that will appeal to anyone who enjoy Suk's less dramatic orchestral works or the Dvorak string quartets.