Devotional meditation
Josef Suks first wrote his meditation on the old Bohemian Wenceslas chorale for the Czech String Quartet, in which he played second violin, and later also published a version for string orchestra.
Since the copyright to the compositions of Josef Suk (1874-1935) has expired, his weighty scores (above all the symphonic poem Asrael) can at least be found again on freshly produced CDs - a phenomenon that has also been seen with other masters in times of tight budgets. However, this release also makes it possible to publish new, corrected editions of the scores, which are then usually advertised as "Urtext", taking into account all available sources. This is also the case with Suk's meditation on the centuries-old, music-historically significant Wenceslas chorale.
With a length of 85 bars, a playing time of approx. 7 to 8 minutes and its devoutly sublime form, it represents a welcome addition to the repertoire both in the original version for string quartet and in the version for string orchestra, which was written only a little later, but also requires an explanatory classification - after all, the movement was intended in 1914, with all the historical implications of the melody, as a Czech-national addition (if not a rebuttal) to the imperial anthem, which had been compulsory in the whole of Slovakia since the outbreak of war and with which every concert had to be opened. An enlightened audience can deal with this; however, the work is still not protected from being appropriated by diehards.
Josef Suk: Meditation on the old Bohemian chorale "St. Wenzeslaus" for string orchestra op. 35a, edited by Zdeněk Nouza, score BA 9584, € 17.95, Bärenreiter, Prague 2017
id., for string quartet, pocket score TP 583, € 10.50
