# Josef Suk



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I just recently discovered his (orchestral) work; it's incredible. There's a real sense of adventure in his music, and he manages to make his works (in general) refreshing and enjoyable, yet at the same time enigmatic, evocative, and serious=sounding. In my opinion, he has a unique but certainly keen sense of balance that gives him an aesthetic appeal that is quite unlike any other composer I've ever heard. I think I like him more than Dvorak.

Can anyone recommend some lesser known works by him?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Suk is great. I like his trilogy - Asrael, Ripening, A Summer's Tale. It took a while to grow on me, but it is excellent music. The Asreal is one of my all time favorite symphonies.
Definitely check his Sherzo fantastico, Serenade for strings, A fairy tale
you can also try Novák, if you don't know him, he is similar to Suk - the first movement of the Slovak suite is amazing


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Thanks! I've already listened to the Scherzo Fantastico, Serenade, and "A Fairy Tale"... all wonderful works! I'll look at the rest for sure.

Anything non-orchestral?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> Anything non-orchestral?


piano trio, piano quartet, piano quintet, string quartet 1 and 2, Fantasy for violin and orchestra, Under the Apple Tree, Three chamber pieces for strings. He also composed some solo piano music, though I have not heard it - About Mother Op. 28, Spring, Op. 22a & Summer Impressions, Op. 22b, Life and Dreams, Op. 30


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

This thread caused me to listen to my entire collection of Suk - only 2 CDs, one of Asrael (Mackerras) and one (a free download from Naxos) of the Scherzo Fantastico, Serenade, and "A Fairy Tale". Fine music that didn't pall even after two hours.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

For me even better than A Fairy Tale is Under the Apple Tree. Another piece to a play by Julius Zeyer. If you can find the version with choral contribution, then well done!!

It's all here, btw:






The four big orchestral pieces are major major pieces, Asrael justly famous,. but the best of them for me has to be Pohádka Léta. It's so beautifully sultry! Epilog is for me an almost impossible piece, Zrání repays the effort - again a lot needed! - eventually. For fun, find his march, Towards a New Life. It won him a silver medal at the 1932 Olympics!






Do check out his chamber stuff too. The Four Pieces are a gem, as are the Quartets. Try and find his Meditation on the Sv. Václav chorale. His piano music is fine, but like Dvorak's, maybe a lesser part of his output. There are some gorgeous choral songs, Op.15 out there too, they seem to get paired with the similar but more famed Dvorak Moravian Duets...






Jacck will, I am sure, explain why Novak's wonderful Slovak Suite, is not actually anything to do with Slovakia per se....

If you end up liking Novak, his big cantata The Storm is an absolute must!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I adore the first symphony. The second theme of the first movement is so simple, with this rocking, undulating harmony underneath it - it's very hypnotic and beautifully written. Like many other composers, he's ignored to our misfortune - it would be nice to give Beethoven, Dvorak, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler a few years time out and explore some of music like Suk's. Asrael is terrific, too.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Things Lived and Dreamed, a piano cycle op.30. A bit quirkier & modern, Janacek-like.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I discovered this Czech composer - Klement Slavický, Rhapsodic Variations




never even heard his name before, but wiki says he was a pupil of Suk. The Rhapsodic Variations sound good

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-klement-slavicky-1120817.html


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The _Asrael_ is a dark, emotionally powerful work. The other big tone poems are hit and miss for me - lots of ideas but not enough structure. I've enjoyed his chamber music more.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

What a timely thread for me; I just found Novak this weekend and have been dipping toes into Suk and Janacek.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Ostrcil, Moyzes and at times Foerster and Fibich are also among those Czechoslovak composers that wrote some nice, late-Romantic music.

Ostrcil: the almost Mahlerian Suite for Orchestra 




Moyzes: Symphony 1 




Foerster: Cyrano de Bergerac, Smetacek-recording : 



piano trios 1-3, etc. 




And there is a plethora of further composers too.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I would definitely recommend Suk's _A Summer's Tale_ - certainly not quite what it would seem from the name. It does fall into the personal journey of works that started with _Asrael_.


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## Cadenza (Sep 24, 2012)

Merely the fact that Suk was Dvorak’s son-in-law is enough to recommend him to me.


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