JOSEF SUK
String quartet No. 1 in B flat major Op. 11
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK
Cypresses for soprano and string quartet (arr. Jiří Gemrot)
String quintet in G major Op. 77
Jana ŠREJMA KAČÍRKOVÁ | soprano
ZEMLINSKY QUARTET
František SOUČEK | violin I
Petr STŘÍŽEK | violin II
Petr HOLMAN | viola
Vladimír FORTIN | cello
Michal NOVÁK | double bass
Antonín Dvořák praised his son-in-law Josef Suk for his String Quartet No. 1, describing it as his best composition. Unsurprisingly, indeed, as at the time of writing Suk had been the violinist of the renowned Czech Quartet for four years. About his own composition Cypresses, Antonín Dvořák declared: “Think of a young man in love - that is the content!” The third composition of the evening can also be considered a masterpiece, the qualities of which the author was well aware. He entered the work under the motto ‘To My Nation’ in a competition announced by Umělecká beseda and won. The evening with the Zemlinsky Quartet and their guests pays homage to love, the nation, and refined chamber music; it would undoubtedly please even Antonín Dvořák!
