Suk: Serenade in E-Flat Major / Dvorak: Serenade for Strings in E Major

Featuring

Volker Hartung
Alexej Svjatlovskij
Igor Makarow
Sergej Belesow
European New Philharmonic Orchestra
Josef Suk

Antonín Dvořák

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Composition History

Josef Suk's Serenade in E flat major was written at age eighteen at the suggestion of his teacher, Dvořák, who advised him to compose something youthful and joyful instead of melancholy music.

Critical Reception

Johannes Brahms admired Suk's Serenade, praising its natural inventiveness and persuasiveness, and recommended it to publisher Fritz Simrock, who then published it.

Composition History

Dvořák composed his Serenade in E major in just a few days in early May 1875, during a very positive period in his life, eighteen months after his marriage.

Composer Biography

Josef Suk, a student of Antonín Dvořák at the Prague Conservatory, later married Dvořák's daughter, Ottilie.

Historical Context

Serenades, originally light evening entertainment often performed outdoors with wind instruments, evolved in the 19th century to be performed in concert halls by pure string ensembles.

Performer Biography

Volker Hartung, the conductor, studied viola and chamber music at the Cologne Conservatory and College of Music, and later conducting at the Juilliard School of Music and California Institute of the Arts.

Recording & Production

The European New Philharmonic Orchestra, founded by Volker Hartung in 2002, is an independent, unsubsidized ensemble that performs a wide-ranging repertoire, including film and light music.