Suk's two full string quartets are very different works, and in their way they make a good introduction to a Czech composer who seems only slowly to be finding a following in this country. That is to say, the First Quartet, Op. 11 (of 1896) is a fresh, appealing piece rather in the manner of the popular Serenade, whereas the Second, Op. 31 dates from 15 years later and the aftermath of the shock which Suk suffered at the death of first his wife and then her father, his teacher Dvorak.
The darkening of his idiom is reflected not only in the more sombre nature of the material, but in the far greater depth and complexity of the structure. Instead of, in the earlier work, four movements that only really, in the Adagio, explore any serious emotion, here is a single movement lasting almost half an hour that conflates the elements of a four-movement quartet into the very complex structure that Suk needed in order to plumb the emotional depths which he had encountered. It is not an easy piece to get to know; none the less, it is worth knowing. The Suk Quartet play it with sympathy and perception, and lighten their manner suitably for the earlier quartet and for the smaller items that fill up this interesting record.'