Ivo Kahanek – piano
Recorded at the Martinů Hall of the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts, Prague,
15 April and 18 June 2016, 2 December 2017, 6–7 April, 4, 6 and 14 June and 6 November 2018.
The very first complete recording of Viktor Kalabis’s piano works, as well as the album of
his three sonatas (SU 4210-2, Supraphon 2018) have come to fruition upon the initiative
and owing to the relentless enthusiasm of the world-renowned harpsichordist Zuzana
Růžičkova, the composer’s wife and a keen promoter of his oeuvre. Of major importance
was the selection of the pianist – one possessing superlative technical skills and having a
profound understanding of the structure of Kalabis’s music. As Ivo Kahanek put it: “Kalabis
was one of the composers who don’t restrict their ideas by the traditional laws of the piano
technique, hence his music is now and then extremely difficult to perform.” Even though
Kalabis drew inspiration from the music of other 20th-century masters, he soon arrived at
his own, singular and unique musical idiom, which is already palpable in his early opuses.
The album maps more than half a century of Kalabis’s work, from the post-war Sonata No.
1 to the masterful miniatures dating from the very end of the millennium. Following the
critically acclaimed recordings of his symphonic and concert pieces (SU 4109-2 – Choc de
Classica, Gramophone Editor’s Choice), and of the three sonatas, the present album opens
yet another window into Viktor Kalabis’s fascinating musical world.
VIKTOR KALABIS (1923–2006)
CD 1
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 2 (1947) 14:38
1 I. Allegro agitato 4:52
2 II. Grave. Moderato. Tempo di marcia funebre 5:10
3 III. Allegro feroce e vivacissimo 4:30
Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 4 (1948) 20:04
4 I. Introduzione. Largo, un poco rubato 9:09
5 II. Sonata. Allegro 10:52
Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 57 (1982) 20:16
6 I. Preludium. Adagio 7:51
7 II. Drama. Allegro drammatico 12:20
CD 2
Accents, Op. 26 (1967) 17:33
1 I. Moderato 2:14
2 II. Allegro 0:58
3 III. Andantino 2:40
4 IV. Andante 3:24
5 V. Agitato. Molto allegro 1:08
6 VI. Adagio 2:59
7 VII. Moderato 2:04
8 VIII. Allegro 2:03
Entrata, aria e toccata per pianoforte, Op. 41 (1975) 10:02
9 I. Entrata. Allegro moderato 3:17
10 II. Aria. Molto moderato 3:34
11 III. Toccata. Allegro impetuoso 3:06
Three Polkas for Piano, Op. 52 (1979) 12:50
12 I. Allegro 3:10
13 II. Allegro ma non troppo 4:16
14 III. Vivo 5:23 |
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