Commissioned by the Primrose Piano Quartet with funding from the Scottish Arts Council Mr and Mrs J. A.Pye’s Charitable Settlement the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Hope-Scott Trust. Firstperformance by the Primrose Piano Quartet on 13th July 2008 at the Pump Room Cheltenham as partof the Cheltenham International Festival of Music.

Josef Suk’s Piano Quartet (1874 1935) quickly became a standard work not least as a result of the extensive concerts given by the Bohemian Quartet in which Suk was second violinist. This is however the first scholarly-critical edition of this work. It is based largely on a revision of the first edition which contains Suk’s alterations of 1914 and appeared in 1924 on the first copy as well as on newly discovered copies of the parts. Valuable information has also been extracted from printed parts of which the original copies are now no longer extant.

This work was commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music for their 50th Music season and 5th Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival. The first performance was given by the Los Angeles Piano Quartet in Tucson Arizona in March 1998.