Czech folder

[dafrieze]

Thank you for the Kalliwoda symphonies - I enjoy his music immensely.  One question, though - does the 2nd symphony only have three movements?  The movement that would be 4 out of 4 seems to be missing.

[eschiss1]

the whole Kalliwoda 2nd symphony in parts (though not score) has been uploaded to IMSLP here from the library at Karlsruhe.

Movements -

1.Larghetto, con sordini-un poco più mosso-Allegro vivace
2.Larghetto
3.Menuetto: Allegro risoluto
4.Rondo: Allegro con spirito

I think the recentish cpo recording comes out to about 27 minutes, for what that's worth, by comparison...

[ArturPS]

I hope you've seen that I edited the post to include the missing file (I kept checking there for replies, and forgot they went here...).

IMO, these performances - which I now discover were recorded off-air in the 60s, probably live or radio production, never released - are quite better than the CPO cd of the 2nd and 4th and the MD&G cd of the 3rd. It's the only I've heard of the 1st, however.

[eschiss1]

there was an LP of the first, and I believe there's been a CD recently but I'd have to check... (a piano 4h reduction of symphony no.1 is also at IMSLP, if memory serves... just checking in but will edit that in awhile for link or to correct- sorry...)

[ArturPS]

Some searching leads to a Vox LP reviewed in 75 by the gramophone, with Kalliwoda's 1st and a Tomasek PC. The performance got panned, the music came out as "should be heard". I don't think I've ever seen a CD with Kalliwoda's 1st...
The imslp indeed has the score of the 1st in 4 hands, I used it and the recording (MD&G) of the 3rd to organize the mp3 files, as when I downloaded them they were completely out of order, mistakenly labeled.

[eschiss1]

the Czerny arrangement (published 1853) mentioned by ArturPS of the ca.1824 1st symphony  is here, from Karlsruhe - http://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1,_Op.7_%28Kalliwoda,_Johann_Wenzel%29.  The movement headings are (with the opening notes briefly if it helps any, but I recommend downloading the score also to sort it out)

1. Largo-Allegro. (E-flat D-flat C Bflat B C(hold) ) -this is the same as the file claiming to be it, too- that's one weird, harmonically wandering opening, though less weird maybe in 1824...
2. Adagio non troppo in D-flat major (Aflat F Aflat G-F-Eflat-F)
3. Menuetto: Allegro (F minor) (C-F G Aflat Bflat Aflat G F...)
4. Finale. Allegro molto. (F minor) (F - Aflat - Dflat. C B BB B(trill) AB C C) (spotcheck while I look at the rest... : -this- definitely seems to be the file it says it is maybe the files have been reorganized since the last posting, but they all 'check out' against the Czerny score now. Hrm. I like this piece. Thank you!! (Already have syms. 5 and 6 and have heard syms. 3 and 7 - local public library has the MDG and cpo recordings of the latter in their rather good classical section... looking forward to hearing 2 and 4 though should have gotten them on cpo too of course.)

[eschiss1]

the LP of the 1st symphony has around the same overall duration (27:05 in all) by the way.  (... some silliness deleted on account of using misleading software - sorry about.)

[eschiss1]

apologies for all these posts- I think there is a problem though, as the file of the first movement of the first symphony - which seems oddly brief at 6 1/2 minutes (I should have followed along with the reduced score ) - suddenly breaks off and the slow movement starts - not sure where (the sender, the receiver end) is though...

[ArturPS]

apologies for all these posts- I think there is a problem though, as the file of the first movement of the first symphony - which seems oddly brief at 6 1/2 minutes (I should have followed along with the reduced score ) - suddenly breaks off and the slow movement starts - not sure where (the sender, the receiver end) is though...

I guess you should have. There are 3 minor glitches that don't account together for more than a second of lost music. The movement is short and he didn't take the repeat. It is intact and there isn't a problem.

[Balapoel]

Artur,
Thanks for posting the Kalivoda symphonies. However, I get a blank rapidshare screen for the 2nd symphony movement 4. Could you put it on mediafire?
Thanks,
Balapoel

[eschiss1]

hrm. didn't sound intact at all which suggests that there was a problem when I downloaded it. will do so again. sorry about that... Hrm. Plays fine with Quicktime Media player, but I am guessing that my iPod interpreted (maybe will again, not sure) one of those dropouts as a movement-ending and jumped to the beginning of the next movement.  Bother! Well, happens.

[ArturPS]

eschiss and Balapoel, I've edited my message. The first movement of the first symphony ended up losing about 3-4 seconds in those 3 glitches (combined). I reconverted them in dbPowerAmp and now mediafire accepted the last movement of the second symphony also. Should anymore glitches occur, let me know, I play them with wmp and it never stopped.

[eschiss1]

btw, Kalliwoda sym.1 was published in 1826 but apparently premiered in 1824? I changed the Wikipedia date to reflect this, or I hope I remembered to... might have been composed earlier still, of course.
Need to go listen to the other three movements of Kalliwoda 1 now  but that opening movement is very impressive. The competition symphony-wise that decade and that year was fierce but that movement is - still impressive, and especially, I think, for a first symphony... quite an opening section and quite an opening movement. Thanks again...

[ArturPS]

btw, Kalliwoda sym.1 was published in 1826 but apparently premiered in 1824? I changed the Wikipedia date to reflect this, or I hope I remembered to... might have been composed earlier still, of course.
Need to go listen to the other three movements of Kalliwoda 1 now  but that opening movement is very impressive. The competition symphony-wise that decade and that year was fierce but that movement is - still impressive, and especially, I think, for a first symphony... quite an opening section and quite an opening movement. Thanks again...

I agree, and I went back and payed attention to the score in this glitch talk and was impressed with the "balls" he had on form. The first movement is sonata form as usual, but he connects the development straight into the second theme when returning to do the recapitulation. He almost doesn't recapitulate the first theme, using it as a coda. That's also why it's so small, it's very concise indeed. Very, very interesting.

I could only wish CPO would complete the cycle with Spering but, alas, he declined (that's why the 2nd and 4th symps. cd is with Willens).

[eschiss1]

Even though I've now heard symphonies 1 and 3 (the former with Vonk the latter on MDG though not yet with Vonk) I hope they will finish the cycle with a good conductor, which I expect Willens is. Listened to the remainder of sym. 1 and to the first movement of sym. 2. Inclined to be slightly critical of what are still very very fine works in very good performances (whose composer, I'm sure, will welcome the constructive criticism when next he decides to compose something, right...)- the similarity of the opening of Kalliwoda 2 to Beethoven in his violin concerto is hard not to notice I guess ("Try, B.D., try!" - Doonesbury reference.) (If you're going to recall someone, there're much worse composers than Beethoven and far worse works than that, though!!...) --

it's also odd sometimes how often I'm reminded of Schubert works that I wonder if Kalliwoda could even ever have heard... maybe it's just qualities Schubert had in common with yet other composers in those works (Rossiniesque qualities in his own 5th symphony, e.g.) ...

but at worst this detracts only occasionally, in the form of slight feelings of stylistic not-quite-flowings, in music that really to repeat I'm glad I'm getting a chance to hear- to repeat and retain perspective, this really is terrific stuff... another highlight was the main sonata theme of the first movement of the 2nd symphony, and Vonk's treatment of it (sounded like solo strings?) each time it appeared. A Spohr-like rhythm, somehow (again, only a comparison and reference point meant- and I quite like that kind of rhythm and theme, especially so treated by composer and performers) and the later contrapuntal development felt right too...

Again though I repeat myself- -good- stuff.
Has the cpo CD of some of the violin concertinos been released yet by the way?