Josef Suk was the son-in-law of Dvořák
and grandfather of the violinist Josef Suk, who stands at the head of
about twenty musicians involved in this varied collection recorded over
25 years. Composer Suk was a fine violinist himself and occupied the
second violin chair of the famed Czech
Quartet for an amazing four decades (while the other personnel changed
around him). This volume covers virtually his whole creative life from
the 1891 Ballad for Violin and Piano in D minor, with which he introduced
himself to his new teacher Dvořák in 1891, to the final
work on the CD, the Sousedska for a bizarre combination of five violins,
double bass and percussion, literally his last work for he died on 29
May 1935 shortly after he had played third violin at its first performance.
The music is all extremely enjoyable, highlights include
the second (Appassionato) of the Four Pieces for Violin and Piano with
their quirky, syncopated rhythms and the incomparable and justifiably
famed duo of Suk and Panenka at their finest. This is a major work in
the Suk output, a highly expressive outpouring of searing melody and
kaleidoscopic moods dating from 1900 which makes compulsive listening
right to the quintessentially Czech Burleska finale. The works for cello
make a charming contrast with the pairing of a brooding Ballad (very
Dvořák influenced) with a playful
Serenade (1898). The whimsical 1917 Bagatelle, charmingly entitled ‘With
Nosegay in Hand’, was probably a musical greeting written for the composer’s
15 year-old son and two of his friends, while the beautiful Barcarolle
and Ballad were parts of discarded string quartets from his early
student years. The 1902 Elegy, with its shades of Richard Strauss’s
Ariadne auf Naxos inclusion of harp and harmonium, commemorates the
anniversary of the death of the poet and dramatist Julius Zeyer, and
the orchestration alone tells you a lot about its lushness, the title
about its depth of feeling and mood. If the Sousedska was his last work,
Suk died a happy man (if rather prematurely at 61) and described it
as ‘the model case of a piece which poses absolutely no demands on either
the composer or players’. It is indeed a joyfully sunny piece of music
and full of fun.
The performances leave absolutely nothing to be desired.
Suk’s playing is the epitome of refined style, virtuosic genius and
genuine musicianship, and he inspires his colleagues to equally great
heights (he appears on ten of the fourteen tracks). This is one of the
most enjoyable discs I have heard for a long while.
Christopher Fifield
Josef Suk (violin)