Suk: Piano Quartet, Four Pieces for Violin and piano, Piano Quintet

Suk's works for piano and strings constitute the best of his chamber music (the string quartets, though rewarding, are slightly tougher nuts), and the three works here (the piano trio didn't fit) receive splendid performances all around. The early piano quartet (his official op.1) is an ebullient, melodic work of high spirits and general optimism. It is spry and rhythmically alive, excellently crafted and imaginative with a truly rewarding final movement. The later pieces for violin and piano are mature, well-crafted small-scale works with memorable themes and a wide variety of colors and atmospheres. Still, it is the piano quintet which is the centerpiece of the disc, an inspired and inspirational work of warm melodies, long arches and smoldering energy - reminiscent, perhaps, of Dvorak's quintet and not infinitely inferior in quality.Fortunately the performances are as ebullient, warm and spry as the music itself. The quartet is imbued with all the color, variety and spirit it calls for and the quintet is as convincingly done as I could possibly imagine. In the four pieces Marianne Thorsen gives us wonderfully phrased, fresh and sweet playing, and she is sensitively backed up by Ian Brown. In addition to such marvelous performances we get interesting and informative notes and top-notch recorded sound. All in all, then, this is a fabulous release that deserves the widest possible circulation.

This disc of some early Suk chamber pieces has now been issued on Hyperion's mid-price label, Helios, and it's a winner. Suk was about 20 when he composed the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet on this disc, and they are anything but immature: they are substantive, well-developed, beautifully wrought pieces, and while they have a recognizably Czech flavor, they aren't simply pale imitations of Dvorak (who would become Suk's father-in-law). They have an energy and a quality of melancholy that is quite their own, and I think it's due to the inventiveness with which Suk combines his instruments and disposes the solo material within his movements. The heavily accented dance-like quality of the allegros are given much variation within their movements, both in terms of musical development and instrumental character. Listen to the slow movement of the Quartet, with its lovely cello and piano opening, then the magical first entry of the violin with a rather different theme. The movement then generates considerable intensity as the instuments recombine, and near the end we have a piano and cello duet again, recalling but not simply repeating the opening. The Piano Quintet, possibly from a couple of years later, is even better. With another instrument to get in the mix, Suk has even more tools to work with. The opening is attractively busy and energetic, the slow movement "religioso," but ending with rocking lullaby-like figuration, then the astounding final two movements, almost two scherzos of terrific panache. In the first (the officially designated scherzo) the pianist Ian Brown and the violist Lawrence Power are amazing. Brown provides the energetic leaps that start the whole thing off, and Power is given a melancholy, restrained theme, beautifully played, that is somehow incorporated with the high jinks -- it's one of these movements that you want to play again as soon as you've heard it. The energy carries over into the finale, with all players fully committed.As a makeweight , there are four pieces for piano and violin (op. 17, from 1900). These have a rather different character, with one piece sounding impressionistic and the final piece perhaps not being out of place in "Petrushka." Don't miss this disc if you like late 19th Century (or any!) chamber music.

These are immediately appealing works in a middle-late Romantic Period style. Suk's music is very well organized. It leads from idea to idea effortlessly and each phrase fragment is constructed with interesting ideas. There is a constant drive to the music that impels it forward even during the slower movements. Suk also has a marvelous sense of when to dial up the tension and then relax it. It also has wonderful tone colors as he finds ways to bring subtle changes to the sonority depsite the smaller forces. In the quieter moments, he finds lines that have aching beauty. Very much underrated composer. Deserves a renaissance.The playing is peerless. Marianne Thorsen on violin gets a rich burnished tone. She plays a Stradivarius violin (The Emiliani) and you can definitely hear the richness of this rare and amazing instrument. Ian Brown's piano is latched onto Thorsen's violin like a laser beam in the violin duets. In the Quintet and Quartet the Nash Ensemble bring out every nuance of Suk's writing with a joyful sense of completely owning the music. They have a tight communication and join the elegant parade of Suk's colorful ideas in an unforced and natural expressiveness. This is rare playing lucky to be captured in a recording. Suk deserves to be better known and perhaps this fine issue will help that come about. Superior sound, very fine engineering, highly recommended without any reservations.

Unfamiliar to me beforehand but truly excellent