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richard barrett
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« on: 10:07:27, 24-05-2008 » |
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I was going to entitle this thread "Suk... does he?" but concluded that this wasn't worthy of a serious musophile like me. However, it came to my mind because of hearing Asrael for the first time on the wireless yesterday. I'd been looking forward to this on account of an obscure feeling that this was a composer I should take notice of, but I was quite underwhelmed by what I heard. (I'm not that keen on Dvořák either, which it reminded me of more than anything else.)
Anyway, I'm sure there are some admirers of JS's music here who would have something more useful to say than I do.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #1 on: 10:17:37, 24-05-2008 » |
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I'd been looking forward to this on account of an obscure feeling that this was a composer I should take notice of So you thought you would Suk it and see.  Oh dear, oh dear, I should go on the stage, I really should. |
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martle
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« Reply #2 on: 11:10:07, 24-05-2008 » |
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Ahem.
As it happens, I caught the Fantastic Scherzo (Scherzo Fantastique? Whatever it is in Czech...) on the car-wireless yesterday whilst driving to Wales. It neatly filled the mileage between Bromyard and Leominster - a tip there, and no need to thank me. Anyway, I was so taken with it I made a mental note to investigate further. I'd heard it before and of course remembered the 'big tune' (which really is a very, very good 'big tune'), but didn't remember how very well integrated it is (phrases like 'finely wrought' pop into my head), and how brilliant the orchestration is. Also, structurally it seemed highly inventive and unusual - essentially a sequence of episodes surrounding multiple appearances of the 'big tune', but done in such a way that the tune sounds different, or carries different meanings each time it returns. More than a rondo - far more 'symphonic in its conception and beyond anything I can think of by Dvorak. Disappointed to hear about Asrael.
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Green. Always green.
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stuart macrae
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« Reply #3 on: 12:19:49, 24-05-2008 » |
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Asrael is one of those pieces that I've heard many, many times on the radio and been sufficiently intrigued to wonder what it was and who it was by. I usually guess it by the end, but I've never gotten round to buying a recording. It's just one of those pieces - interesting and enjoyable in its own way, but perhaps not inspiring much passion or fervour...
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Jonathan
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« Reply #4 on: 15:52:47, 24-05-2008 » |
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We've got the Fantastic Scherzo as well, on CD with "Summer Tale". I've also got the Asreal Symphony and some piano music - neither of which I've got round to lstening to yet...
The Fantastic Scherzo really is a jolly work and, although I don't know anything much about him, he's someone who I will investigate in the future!
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Best regards,
Jonathan
*********************************************
"as the housefly of destiny collides with the windscreen of fate..."
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autoharp
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« Reply #5 on: 16:19:17, 25-05-2008 » |
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I have a recording of piano works vol. 1 as played (very persuasively) by Niel Immelman. This includes a cheerful 5-movement Suite entitled Spring op. 22a, 3 pieces from op. 7, the rather darker Things lived and dreamt op. 30 (which the sleeve note informs is "generally reckoned to be the finest work for piano") and the late About friendship op. 36. It's very attractive stuff and consistently so but without often breaking into the excitingly impressive. Those pieces which do are the 1st movement of Spring which itself is entitled, er, Spring, and movements 5 + 10 of Things lived and dreamt which are entitled, respectively, On the recovery of my son and To the forgotten graves in a corner of Krecovice cemetery. Which just happen to be those pieces which feature juxtapositions of strikingly unrelated chords . . . (absent in the works of John Blow).
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« Last Edit: 16:29:32, 25-05-2008 by autoharp »
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offbeat
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« Reply #6 on: 19:55:47, 25-05-2008 » |
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Im glad this composer has been mentioned - have not listened to his music for some time but think some fine works namely the fairy tale suite the serenade for strings ths symphonic poem Prague - also Ripening although this last work is a little over the top and of course the Asrael Symphony which in my opinion is a very fine and dramatic work but for myself needed a few playings to get to know it- but would recommend this composer to anyone who likes rich lush orchestrial music
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Jonathan Powell
Posts: 40
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« Reply #8 on: 16:58:22, 30-05-2008 » |
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I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with most people and say that I find everything (pretty much) Suk wrote after 1906 or so to be particularly memorable and impressive. Asrael, Summer's Tale, Ripening and the Second Quartet have been with me for all my adult life and more. And the late piano works (O matince, Zrani a snem, O pratelstvi, etc) I rate above Janacek's, I'm sorry to report! For me, they are all very powerful pieces, full of invention, quite unmistakeably his. And most of the early pieces have lovely things in them. The Symphony op.15 (?, in E major anyway), the Serenade for strings (as announced - orkestr ispolnyaet Serenadu Suka - in Russia once, causing unintended hilarity since "suka" means "bitch" as well as being the genitive of the composer's name) are both also favourites.
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thompson1780
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« Reply #9 on: 19:18:18, 30-05-2008 » |
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I'm never too grabbed by the Asreal, but I share some real like with other repliers! Ripening and Praga are good, and A Summer Tale, and Epilogue.
I really love the string serenade too.
There's a nice little quartet work "Meditations on st wenceslas".
And where I started was with the appassionata from his 4 pieces for violin and piano.
Worthy of investigating further than the asreal.
Tommo
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
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