Josef Suk (4 January 1874 – 29 May 1935) was a Czech composer and violinist. He studied under Antonín Dvořák, whose daughter he married.

Symphony No. 1 in E major, Op. 14 (1897-99)

I. Allegro, ma non troppo - poco a poco accelerando - Allegro
II. Adagio - Pochettino più mosso (11:33)
III. Allegro vivace (21:15)
IV. Allegro (27:44)

BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek

Description by James L. Zychowicz ©2006
While Suk composed music in various genres, including works for piano, chamber ensembles, and voices, he is primarily known for his orchestral works, especially his Serenade for Strings (1892) and the Symphony "Asrael" in c minor, op. 27 (1905–7). Prior to completing those works is his Symphony in E major, op. 14. Not as familiar to audiences as Asrael, the Symphony in E major is his first work in this genre and a notable example of music from the turn of the last century. Composed between 1897 and 1899, that is, around the time that Gustav Mahler was embarking on his Fourth Symphony, Suk’s Symphony in E major is a work that makes use of the conventional four-movement structure, albeit infused with the composer’s unique ideas.

The first movement, with the opening tempo ‘Allegro ma non troppo’ makes use of the expected sonata form. While there is little unexpected about the structure of the piece, the thematic content makes use of motivic ideas that Suk develops throughout the movement. While some aspects of the opening movement might betray some affinities with Dvorák and Brahms, Suk makes the piece with his manipulation of the contents. Brass fanfares and chorale-like motives are integrated into a framework that involves an elegant and pliant modal theme in the low strings. The triumphant brass sounds with which the movement ends provide a satisfying conclusion to an ambitious movement.

A similar mastery of thematic content occurs in the tripartite form of the second movement. Marked ‘Adagio’, the movement is elegiac in nature, with the first section dominated by the reedy sound of the clarinet. Woodwind sonorities blur, at times, with the low strings. In the middle section of the movement, Suk evokes Bruckner’s Adagios, with his careful and dramatic scoring of the upper strings. In this part of the movement, the longer melodic lines that dominate the opening section are supplanted by various motives that Suk uses as a point of contrast. In the end he returns to the warm and sinuous themes with which the Adagio began.

The Scherzo that follows is an engaging and urbane movement that attracts attention from the start with its engaging principal theme and the energetic accompaniment. While Suk was a Czech composer, he did not overtly use folk tunes or quote from folk music. In this regard, then, he differs, then, from Mahler, with whom he is sometimes compared, who allowed country dances like the Ländler to occur in his own symphonic works. Rather, Suk created in his E-major Symphony a Scherzo that successfully evokes some of the Romanticism from earlier in the century. The persistent theme of Scherzo is developing engagingly throughout the movement, which is one of his most concise, with chamber-music like textures intersecting the careful use of the full orchestra. It is, perhaps, this movement in which Suk expresses his voice as a symphonist most clearly in a piece that anticipates the composer’s later works.

Unlike the strong contrast that exists between the first two movements, thematic affinities connect the Scherzo to the Finale, an Allegro-movement that includes episodes in which the composer varies the tempo and the textures. Adhering to the formal convention that places the structural weight in the outer movements, Suk uses the Finale to balance the opening movement investing the sonata form with content that is equally earnest to that of the first. The orchestration alone conveys a sense of mastery of symphonic style. With the sprung ‘Lombard’ rhythm of one of the principal themes and the syncopated figures in the winds, Suk was able to maintain a level of intensity through the ending of the movement.

It is difficult to avoid comparison with the Asrael-Symphony, which remains Suk’s enduring contribution to symphonic literature. Asrael is a remarkable work for many reasons and merits attention, but it differs substantially from the earlier Symphony in E major, which reflects a more conservative approach to symphony style. While Suk would explore symphonic music in more expansive works, the Symphony in E major remains a remarkable work from the composer’s early years, as he learned his craft and quickly developed his style.

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