Here's a real gem for those who love Czech music. The three Dvorák pieces here were all written in a hurry for domestic music gatherings -- in one case over a few days -- but they are all excellebt examples of the composer's mature style. Anyone who likes the Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, "Dumky," or the Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81, will enjoy these little pieces, which work out a lot of the same ideas in a very inventive way. Consider the lovely pentatonic melody of the fourth of the five Bagatelles for two violins, cello, and harmonium, Op. 47, written more than 15 years before America is supposed to have pushed Dvorák's thinking in a pentatonic direction and then hear its delightful canonic development. The three collections of Dvorák works are all attractive, but the Bagatelles are perhaps most interesting due to the presence of the harmonium. Even the booklet notes by Antonín Matzner (in English, French, German, and Czech) are a bit apologetic about this, but they shouldn't be; the harmonium was a common feature of musical life in the 19th century, and it's time to revive the considerable body of music that was written for it. These bagatelles make a good place to start, for Dvorák devises unusual sonorities involving the harmonium and a pizzicato cello, and lets the harmonium emerge solo at unexpected moments. The program concludes with the weightier Piano Quartet in A minor, Op. 1, of Suk, composed in 1891. The last movement could pass for a work of the teacher. The violinist throughout is the other
Josef Suk, the grandson of the composer, nearly 80 when the album was recorded in 2008 but still sounding good and looking good in the black-and-white photos of Prague scenes in the packaging. The entire album is enjoyable and something more. It carries the flavor of a group of delightful obscurities, revealed by insiders with a direct connection to the tradition. A triumph for the venerable Czech label Supraphon.